Broken Promises and Past Regrets
A/N: As you can tell from my author name, I love Parker. I had to take a shot at writing about her past. I really like this story so far, so hopefully everyone does too!
Pairings: I like to stick with the show's pairings (call me old-fashioned), so almost-but-not-quiteNate/Sophie, preHardison/Parker, and Eliot/Parker friendship (not really in the show, but its awesome). Probably A LOT of Eliot/Parker friendship, and if you like that couple I guess you could see it as preslash (if you try really hard).
"Hi, I'm Susan. What's your name?" The broken girl didn't know how to respond- or if she should- to the young girl's question. She was still deciding when Susan spoke again, "You do have a name right? I've met some kids that have a bunch of names, some have one, but I've never heard of a girl without one." The girl named Susan seemed to never stop talking. She was happy and social, despite being in foster care. This made the shy blonde girl relax a little; maybe this home wouldn't be as bad as the others.
The clock said 4:30 AM. Parker couldn't sleep. She usually could for about 6 hours before the nightmares kicked in, but this night was different. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't forget her childhood memories. They never leave her; sometimes she can push them to the back of her mind but usually they creep up on her at unsuspecting moments.
She got up, stretched, and took a shower. 4:45 AM. She sighed. She had five hours before she had to be at the offices, with nothing to do.
Maybe Eliot was up? He only sleeps 90 minutes a night. She suspects for the same reason why she doesn't sleep much- possibly worse- but doesn't want to ask. Some things were best unspoken; it didn't take Sophie's lessons for her to understand that.
Parker wanted to visit him, but the last time she did he was less than happy to see her. He had had a run in with the mob and was icing a few joints when she barged in, scared the hell out of him, and demanded cookies.
Maybe Hardison was up playing video games? She would visit him, but video games were boring and if he wasn't doing that then he would be on the computer- also boring- or sleeping.
Sophie was definitely sleeping. She was a heavy sleeper, Parker learned, from one night when she broke into her "flat" (as Sophie calls it) and the sleeping body didn't move a muscle. But she had a rather large flat screen that Parker could turn up fairly loudly without getting caught, so it worked out.
Nate? His apartment was all of their homes away from home. They visited at random hours, despite his annoyance and whining about it.
It was settled. After a quick jump off her apartment (one of many) building, she would head over and maybe watch some cartoons. She had been dying to try out her latest contraption, and it was a perfect night.
She dressed in her usual black attire, jumped up through the air duct (she never took the stairs) and made her way up to the top floor through the elevator shaft. It only took about 3 minutes to set up the rig and she jumped without hesitation, screaming at the top of her lungs. These were the moments that she didn't think of the memories- she only forgot when she was doing something stupid/dangerous.
She got to the bottom, unhooked herself, and hid the device in a nearby alley. Earlier Parker had spotted a Mercedes a block away that she wanted to take a crack at (ever since the car job she has been stealing cars as well- she forgot how fun it was!). It only took 45 seconds and she headed over, leaving the car a fair distance away. She grabbed her handy dandy lock pick and got inside in record time- who used a door nowadays?
Nate was upstairs, snoring rather loudly. Who she didn't expect to see was Eliot. "What are you doing here?" he asked, relaxing from the battle pose he took when hearing the door being picked.
"Couldn't sleep," she said, and Eliot knew it was her nightmares again. He could just tell from the way she spoke- they had after all been a team for over 2 years. "You?"
"I already slept. I got bored," he said. "Try to sleep here." He patted the couch he was sitting on. "We have a long day today."
Parker jumped on the couch and Eliot threw a blanket over her. It was easier to sleep at Nate's than at her house. It felt safer. She usually didn't sleep in front of people (a habit she picked up from the system) but she deemed Eliot OK enough to let her guard down a little. He appreciated it, knowing how hard it is sometimes to trust people.
Once her head hit the pillow she closed her eyes, bringing up the memories.
"I'll introduce you to some people," Susan said, taking the little girl by the hand. She led her to a room with three boys. "That's Michael, Jason, and Ricky. This is their room; they don't let girls in," she made a face. Susan then introduced her to the two other girls Carol and Nicole. The little girl sighed; she didn't like big families; that usually meant dirt poor parents wanting money from the government that they obviously didn't spend on the kids.
The parents hadn't bothered showing her around, which also wasn't a good sign. The house was very small and broken down, and only had two small, dirty bathrooms. The "dad", Chris, was drinking his fourth beer in front of a small TV and the "mom", Michele, left to go shopping or something.
"I need to tell you something," Susan said. "We're sisters now, and sisters help each other out. Don't go by Chris when he gets mad or drinks a lot. He hurts people, but mostly the boys. He's only hit me twice. He probably won't hit you for a while though," she said this as if it were OK. It wasn't, but no one could do anything about it. Foster care was a broken system.
Eliot rubbed her arm, sensing that she was tense. It made her relax a little more. He was watching TV with the sound off; it was some sports game that Parker couldn't really remember. "Who's winning," she asked groggily.
"France. Go to sleep," he said.
"You go to sleep."
"I already did. Normal people need more hours than I do."
Parker smiled. "I thought you said I wasn't normal."
He thought for a moment. "And I completely agree with that statement. I guess I meant semi-normal people. Parker, go to bed."
She sighed. "Fiiiine" she whined. She closed her eyes again.
She heard a crash; that's what woke her up in the middle of the night. It also woke up Susan. "It's ok," she said. "He's just mad that his team lost. Just don't make any noise."
The little girl obeyed. He kicked their door in and the two other girls whimpered. He threw something across the room and it hit Susan on the head. She started bleeding. The little girl kicked Chris in a weak spot, grabbed Susan, and they ran outside. They ran until they didn't hear Chris' yells.
They were at a park. "How'd you know I come here?" Susan asked.
"I didn't," the girl said. "Parks are usually a safe place."
Susan smiled. "We should give you a name. Parker fits, I think."
She made a face. "That's a last name. And a boy name."
"It's a good name! I like it. It's perfect!"
"OK, Parker it is then."
A few hours into her light sleep she heard people whispering around her. She didn't want to wake up, but had to make sure she was OK. She opened her eyes into slits (the light was too bright) and saw Sophie and Hardison standing over her.
"Dammit Hardison," Sophie said, failing to utter Eliot's famous line as well as the hitter does. "I told you not to talk so loudly!"
"Me? You were the one who was slamming crap all over the place. You even cracked Nate's favorite coffee mug, the one he uses for "coffee"" Hardison put bunny ears around the last word "even though we all know its whiskey. He's gon' kill you."
"He actually likes me," Sophie countered.
"How about you both shut up?" Eliot asked. He placed a huge tray of yummy food in front of Parker. Pancakes, waffles (which Parker thought was a little redundant but whatever), a banana, an apple, two leftover fortune cookies, and her favorite- cereal!
"Mmm," she sighed, content. Hardison stared at her jealously.
"Man, why can't you make me food? That's unfair. Sophie, he's picking favorites!"
"What am I, your mother?" Sophie said under her breath. "I. Don't. Care."
"You woke her up. And you're annoying. If that's not two good enough reasons for you, I'll show you another," Eliot said cracking his fists. Hardison shut up, muttering something about a bully and headed off to his laptop.
"Thanks Eliot," Parker said, digging into the food. She's never had someone cook just for her- it felt nice.
"No problem," he said, smiling.
She was still tired; she slept better with Bunny. Parker usually remembered to bring him to Nate's and hide him when the others got there, but she forgot.
"What am I supposed to do now?" newly named Parker asked. "He's probably going to kill me."
"No, don't worry," Susan said. "He doesn't remember any of it the next day. Don't bring it up, you'll be fine."
Luckily she was right. The only evidence of the previous was Chris' hangover. No one spoke a word of it, and Parker realized that was how they all coped with it.
Parker and Susan spent most nights at the park. Chris' tirades got worse as he drank more (now that he got another check from the government, he could buy a few more packs of beers per week) and all of Parker's "family members" found a way to deal. The two girls, now best friends, slept under the racing slides.
"Parker," Susan said one night as they were getting ready to sleep, "I want to give you something. It's not much, but you didn't have a lot in your bag when you came here," she handed Parker a stuffed rabbit. Its ear was almost torn off, as well as one of its eyes. "This is Bunny. He's been my best friend since I was put in foster care. He's great. You'll love him."
"I can't take that," Parker said. She knew how important items could be to a person; she had a few of her own that she lost a while ago and missed every day.
"Yes, you can," she urged. "He's a great friend. I want him to be yours."
"He'll be ours," Parker retaliated. Susan smiled.
"Where's Nate?" Sophie asked.
"I. Don't. Care," Hardison retorted. Sophie stared at him evilly for a moment before running up the stairs to wake up the lazy/drunk thief (or whatever he was going by now; she lost track a while ago).
Parker had gotten up and headed to the kitchen area to get more cereal. Eliot was astounded at how much the girl could eat. He and Hardison plopped on the couch while the geek was putting finishing touches on the briefings for today.
Nate came downstairs, still in pajamas. He stopped walking like a slob when he noticed his company. "Uh, what are you all doing here?"
"Uh, it's Thursday. We have a client," Eliot answered. Everyone understood he was hungover and probably thought it was Saturday.
"Thursday? I've got to stop drinking that damn bourbon," Nate said, noting the two empty bottles on the counter.
"Anyways," Hardison said after a slightly awkward pause. "Our case is about two people who got caught up with a loan shark/conman."
"I hate those cases," Sophie complained. "It's always about two happily married people looking to start a family, trusting a man with their money, and them getting robbed. It's depressing."
"Actually, these two aren't married," Hardison said. "Their names are Susan and Jason Stapleton. They're foster siblings."
Parker froze.