"I'd do anything! Sing songs that lovers sing. If I could change your mind! Am I not the loving kind?" I love that song, and for my best friend counting, that's two fanfics based off of songs. One more, and you're gonna be writing a fanfic buddy! You stupidly put this song on the list, and you know I know I love that song. It's a great song, you guys, you should check it out. The Loving Kind by Girls Aloud. The music video's pretty cool too. I just sat in the girls bathroom eating peanut M&M's so I wouldn't have to go through the tornado drill. That would be strange for most, but it seemed so normal for me.
Parker opened her eyes, squinting when she realized the sun was up. She moved her arm to rub sleep out of her eyes. Her movements caused the body lying next to her to stir a bit, but settle, pulling her closer with one arm. She looked at him in wonder as he slept.
It sometimes amazed her how well he was with her. He was too understanding in her opinion. It's not that she didn't appreciate him being that way, it was just sometimes… it seemed like he was too good for her. That thought overwhelmed her at times.
When he would tell her he loved her, and she didn't respond, she could tell he was frustrated, but then he would just let it go. To this day, a year, three months, three weeks and five days since the start of their relationship (he counted), she still hadn't told him she loved him or gave him any significant indication that she felt the same way.
She kind of wanted him to yell at her or anything so she would feel less guilty. Parker never felt guilty but this was really getting to her. Though their relationship was still partially a secret since Nate was so clueless (Sophie, Elliot, and even Tara caught on after six months), the tension between them could still be felt.
It was sometimes awkward, but they other times they could deal, though they never spoke about it. She wanted to talk about it, but she didn't know how to bring it up, which was probably because of the main issue she was having right now that made her feel guilty. She was the most social person in the world, and this was her longest relationship.
This was also the first that didn't just revolve around physical attraction. She really, truly like Hardison, and she wanted to show him that. She just didn't know how. She wasn't exactly the loving kind of girl.
"Morning, beautiful."
She gave him a small smile and got out of bed only to be pulled back and kissed on the lips. He pulled away after a few seconds.
"Morning," Parker replied.
She stood back up, dressed in his faded blue tee, and walked out the room.
"You making breakfast, baby?"
Parker scoffed loud enough where he could hear her.
"Is that a yes?" he yelled.
She walked back into the room two minutes later with a big bowl of Reese's Puffs, and two spoons. Hardison sat up, smiling at her.
"I thought you weren't making me breakfast?"
"It's cereal," she stated, "It didn't require much work."
He took a spoon from her and stuck it in the bowl.
"So, what are your plans today?" he asked her.
Parker shrugged, "I was gonna go shopping."
Hardison did a double take.
"Y- you're gonna go shopping?"
Parker nodded, "Yeah. Is something wrong with that?"
"No- no, not at all. I'm just… do you need money or anything?"
"I'm a thief."
Hardison smiled, "Yeah, I know, and I'm a hacker."
He reached over towards the night stand and grabbed a credit card.
"You need it?"
"No, I'll be fine," Parker told him.
"You sure?"
"Yes."
"Okay…"
Parker gave him a look. He smiled and kissed her lips.
"So you want to find Hardison a gift?" Sophie asked her.
Sophie was sitting on the passenger side of the car Parker was driving. When Parker had called her for help in the shopping department, she was speechless of course. She still wasn't used to Parker asking for help, but to ask for help shopping? For Hardison? Parker hated shopping and Sophie had never seen Parker go out of her way to buy or steal anything for him.
"Yeah," Parker confirmed, "That's why I called you."
"Just to be clear, we are stealing things, right?"
"Kinda," Parker told her, "I took some money from a few people's bank accounts and put it on the bank account of Kara."
"Kara?"
"One of my aliases."
"And you stole the money?"
"You can't not hang around Hardison and not pick up a few tricks," Parker stated.
Sophie simply nodded in response. Even she had picked up a few computer geek traits. Her typing abilities increased greatly and she found herself indulging in the game play of at least one video game. She also picked up a few traits from her other team mates.
"So what do you want to buy for him?"
"Uh, I don't know, something geeky."
Sophie chuckled, "Something geeky?"
"Yeah."
"And may I ask why you want to buy Hardison something?"
"Just because."
Sophie eyed the blonde curiously.
"Because?"
"Look, I just want to show him that I… care."
"Aww, Parker that's sw-"
"Whatever."
"I know just what you should do. First, let's go to some electronics store like that Best Buy."
"That Best Buy?" Parker mocked.
They began talking over each other during the car ride to a near by Best Buy.
"I'm not big on electronics, Parker-"
"You've lived in America for how long-"
"I wouldn't have even heard about it-"
"And you don't know what a best buy is?"
"If Hardison hadn't mentioned it once."
"It's the laziest country-"
"What do you mean how long have I lived here?"
"in the-"
Parker stopped her statement when her cell phone rang. She answered without checking who it was and put it on speaker.
"Yeah?"
"Hey, baby. You having fun shopping?"
"I haven't started yet. I'm about to."
"Well have fun, and take all the time you want," he told her proudly, "Just not too long cause I wouldn't mind a repeat of last night when you-"
Sophie quickly took the phone of loudspeaker and held it up to Parker's ear. Parker turned to her with a confused look, but started laughing seductively.
"Yeah, that was fun."
Sophie turned away in disgust. After that little thing two weeks ago when she walked in on them on Nate's couch during a case, she didn't want to know anything she didn't need to know, and she really didn't need to know anything.
"I have to go," Parker said, "Bye."
Sophie hung up the phone and tossed it in a cup holder.
"What's wrong?" Parker asked in confusion.
"What's wrong? Parker, in normal situations, when you have your boyfriend on speaker phone and he starts speaking of things you did in bed, you take it off speaker."
"We were playing World of War Craft last night and apparently I was awesome," Parker informed her.
"Oh. Then I'm sorry for jumping to concl-"
"And then we had sex and I was even more awesome."
"Parker," Sophie complained, "I swear, you hang around the boys too much."
Parker drove into the Best Buy parking lot and parked in the back. Sophie looked at the front of the store, then at her.
"Why are we back here?" she asked Parker.
"I like to walk." Parker replied.
She cut the engine and got out the car, locking the doors when Sophie closed the passenger door. They walked up the row towards the entrance.
"So what did you have in mind?" Sophie asked.
"I was thinking Mario Cart on the Wii. It's the only game he's complained about not having."
"Well why hasn't he gotten it?"
"Other games he wanted more came out," Parker said.
Sophie nodded and followed Parker to the video games display. She eyed the video games while Parker went to find somebody to unlock the display to get the game. She didn't notice the man around the age of 45 who walked up behind her. He tapped her shoulder.
"You found somebody Par- oh, hi there."
"Hi, I'm Tom."
"I'm Jennifer," she said, automatically slipping into her con mode.
"You like video games Jennifer?" he asked.
"Um, well I-"
"I think that's great. I've never met a woman who's interested in video games."
"You don't say," Sophie responded.
She looked around for Parker.
"Are you single?" asked Tom.
"Excuse me?"
"Are you single? I hope you are."
Sophie opened her mouth to reply, but no words came out.
"Most girls don't understand my life style. It's always 'Get a job, Tom,' or 'Stop playing video games, Tom,' But you understand, don't you?"
"Y- you don't have a job?"
"I play in video game tournaments."
"Really, that's facinati- Kara!"
Sophie practically yelled when Parker came into view with a nerdy teen following her and eyeing her like she was a goddess. Parker tilted her head to the side and looked at the guy next to Sophie. She noticed Sophie mouthed her cover name to her and subtly nodded.
"Hey, Jen. Who is this? Nathaniel would be so jealous if he found out you were flirting with another guy."
Sophie frowned at the cover story, more specifically the 'Nathaniel' part.
"I wasn't flirting, I was just going to tell him about my boyfriend," she replied.
"You're not single?" he said with a hint of disappointment.
"No," Sophie said, "I'm sorry."
Tom nodded then looked at Parker.
"Are you single?"
"No," Parker stated bluntly.
Tom walked away with his head hung low.
"What was that?" Sophie questioned Parker.
"What was what? I thought you didn't like him," Parker said, "I still haven't gotten a full understanding of subtle clues."
"I didn't, I meant the Nate thing."
"Well he would be," Parker said.
The worker cleared his throat, getting their attention.
"Oh yeah," Parker remember, "Mario Cart, Wii."
He nodded, and picked the key from the key ring. Sophie continued glaring at Parker who just smiled.
"Okay, I'm never going to any electronics store ever again," Sophie announced.
"So the guy played video games for a living… wait, does he win money for it?"
"I don't know, Parker, I'm imagining he lives in his parents basement," Sophie told her.
Parker unlocked the car doors.
"I wasn't the only one being admired, the teenager who unlocked the display case was eyeing you," Sophie informed Parker.
"I didn't notice," replied Parker honestly.
Sophie gave her a 'Seriously?' look over the car hood. Parker shrugged and got in.
"So you said you had something in mind, earlier," Parker remembered, "What was it?"
"Well, besides giving him the game, you could make him dinner," Sophie suggested.
"You mean order take-out?"
"No, cook dinner. Can you cook, Parker?"
"Somewhat," responded Parker, "It depends on the food."
"Have you ever cooked for Hardison before?"
"Grilled cheese sandwiches," Parker said, "Does that count? That counts, right?"
"Depends, is that you specialty dish, or?"
"No, I just fixed grilled cheese when I'm to lazy to cook."
"Like you and cereal?" Sophie questioned.
"Yeah, then I'm just really lazy."
"So what is your specialty then?"
"Ah, beef stew, I guess. I used to eat it, ramen, cereal, and grilled cheese sandwiches a lot."
Sophie thought for a moment.
"Okay, then we go buy the ingredients for that, buy a few other things, and it'll be so sweet and romantic," Sophie said dreamily, "Then you'll give him the game and it'll be geeky."
Parker opened her mouth to speak, but Sophie cut her off.
"And if you mention sex again I wi-"
"I was gonna ask you what store to go to," Parker said.
"Well Parker, go to whatever grocery store you usually go to," Sophie advised.
"I don't grocery shop," Parker admitted, "Hardison does that."
"Well what about when you weren't living with him."
"I broke into you guys' places and mooched off of you."
"That's where my food went?" Sophie said in shock, "Parker!"
"It was fun crawling through your vents. There are interesting things in them."
Sophie pinched the bridge of her nose.
"I'm sure there's a grocery store near by, just… drive."
Parker cut off the stove and leaned against the counter reading through a magazine. Sophie had managed to distract Hardison and get him out the house while Parker fixed everything up. Sophie called when Hardison was headed home, which was twenty minutes ago, so he should be walking through the door soon.
"Parker? What's that smell?"
"Right on time," Parker mumbled to herself.
She put the magazine down and walked towards the front door where Hardison was currently standing as he took his jacket off.
"Food," she answered.
He put his jacket in the closet by the door and then kissed her lips.
"What take-out is that?" he asked her.
"No take-out, I cooked."
Hardison looked down at her, tilting his head slightly to the left.
"You cooked? You can cook?"
"I've cooked for you before," she mentioned.
"Yeah, once, and it was grilled cheese. Anyone can cook that… except Nate," Hardison said, "What did you cook?"
She took his hand an lead him into the kitchen.
"Beef stew."
"My baby cooked for me?" Hardison cooed.
He kissed her cheek and picked up the spoon to taste it.
"Mh, mmh. Parker, this taste delicious," Hardison praised her, "You do know I'm gonna force you to cook more, right?"
"That was the reason I didn't cook much in the first place," she mumbled.
Hardison smirked and wrapped his arms around her waist.
"So what else did you do while I was gone?"
"Well, you always talked about how I was supposed to add a girly touch to the place so I put flowers on the table."
Hardison turned to look at the dining table as Parker spoke.
"Then I figured that after we eat, we can drink and play Mario Cart on the Wii."
"I don't have that game," Hardison told her.
Out of no where, Parker pulled it out and handed it to him.
"You do now."
Hardison looked at the game, then at the table where the flowers, wine and plates were, then at her.
"You did all of this?"
"I had a little help from Sophie. She came shopping with me and offered to distract you," she admitted.
"Why would you do all of this?" he asked.
He notice a slight blush on her face, which he wasn't used to, and her eyes shifting towards the floor.
"Well… you're always doing things for me, and I thought this was the least I could do for you, because I- I love you. I don't really show it often or say it so-"
She was cut off by a kiss on the lips.
"You don't say it, Parker, but you do show it."
She looked up at him.
"Every time you smile at me or you sit an listen to me talk about my games, gadgets and gizmos. Most girls wouldn't do that, but you do. Though it is amazing to hear you say it out loud."
He grabbed her waist and lifted her up on the counter, using his fingers to brush the blonde strands out of her eyes.
"I love you too, Parker."
I got into the whole Sophie, Tom thing, that just amused me. I can't believe I'm out of M&M's, now I have to buy more... So what did you guys think?