Hi everyone, I'm back again. :)
I hope you enjoy it. I've been toying with this idea for a while, and really have no idea where it will lead ... but I've got some ideas. ;)
If you haven't had a chance, feel free to read my other fics (The Hangover: Leverage Style and Over My Undead Body). It will give you a good idea of what to expect from my writing and my pairings.
Also, in advance, I love, love, love writing cliffhangers, so be prepared.
Finally, I am very motivated by reviews, so please don't hesitate to comment - good or bad (just be gentle with the bad!).
Okay, here we go!
Chapter 1:
The shadows cast an eerie and uncomfortable glow over the newly renovated Gastro-Pub. The expanse of the pub was empty, each chair placed upside down on the marble tables, scattered neatly throughout the room.
The floors were spotless, just the way Eliot made sure they were at the the close of every day.
Everything seemed as it should be, except for the four individuals sitting icily at the bar.
There were no lights lit behind the bar itself, just a few dim recess lights overhead. In normal circumstances the dim lights would give a romantic atmosphere, but in this instance, it was a cold isolated glow over the four of them. Eliot stood, leaning with both palms on the steel counter top. His muscles were taught and his jaw set in a scowl.
Hardison and Sophie had the same foul expression on their faces as they sat across the bar from Eliot. Sophie looked down at the full shot glass which she had been turning round and round in a circular pattern on the bar-top for the past five minutes. Without warning she shot the thick dark liquid down the back of her throat. It burned as it went down, and fueled the fire in her belly. Sophie's eyes were red and swollen, but the tears no longer fell, very slowly she turned her chin to Parker giving her a particularly nasty sneer.
She could not think of a day where she had ever been more scared. Just the thought of him lying there, unmoving, made a shooting pain run down her spine. She thought she lost the one she loved today. The one she was meant to spend the rest of her life with. All because of Parker.
"Why do you always have to be so impulsive?" She slurred, slicing through the silence of the room, throwing her shot glass down on the floor. It crashed into thousands of shards upon impact sending the echoes of a shattering team bouncing off the walls of the pub.
Eliot's body tensed. He quickly looked up to Parker who was sitting cross-legged on the bar against the left side column. He knew Parker could handle her own battles, but the protective brother in him was ready to do some damage. He looked up to her for a response.
Parker's face remained frozen, eyes staring forward across the bar, looking at no one, as if off in her own world again. Her face gave no indication that she had heard the woman's remarks. Normally a scathing comment from Sophie would pain Parker, Sophie knew just where to strike.
The silence was deafening, like the calm before a deadly storm.
Eliot was about to speak up, when Parker turned her head slowly downward. Sophie's heart quickened, but the alcohol coursing through her veins gave her a new sense of confidence and the anger continued to bubble up to the surface.
Parker's voice was even and calm. Hardison felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise. This was the voice she used just three weeks ago when they had officially broken their relationship off. It was as if nothing could touch her. Like they, and he, had no impact whatsoever on her feelings and her decisions. His hand clenched his beer bottle tighter still, trying visibly to stay calm.
"A decision needed to be made, and I made it."
The room was frozen. Not one person moved an inch. Parker had struck a chord, and Eliot could see the red rise to Sophie's cheeks, like she was about to erupt and breathe fire.
Like an ominous prediction, Sophie flung herself out of the chair. It crashed backward and Hardison caught her before she slid. Her eyes looked murderous.
"NATE IS UNCONSCIOUS IN THE HOSPITAL BECAUSE OF YOUR DECISION!"
Parker sat taller, lips tight. Unwavering. Silent.
"Sophie, calm down." Eliot said across the bar.
Eliot, caught off guard, shot a surprised an irritated look in Hardison's direction.
Hardison ignored him, still supporting Sophie by the waist, and continued.
"Parker is impulsive. She obviously has a problem following direction and communicating with the team."
Hardison made eye contact with Parker at that remark. He could tell he had stung her. Her eyes widened then quickly narrowed into slits. She then slid off of the bar onto the floor in her smooth cat-like manner and squared off directly in front both himself and Sophie.
Despite her smaller frame, she still had a dangerous glint in her eye. Eliot new that glint and quickly pushed his way out from behind the bar, grabbing Parker's shoulder cautiously standing behind her.
"Do you have something you'd like to share, Alec?" Parker's voice was smooth, but there was an edge there. The wounds from less than a month before were tender and fresh, and the wedge that they had shoved between them had just gotten more jagged and even deeper in.
This time, Eliot remained silent. Normally, he would have broken this up by now, encouraging everyone to go to their homes until they could calm down, but tonight, his nerves were just as jumbled, and Hardison was making him angry.
"I already said it." Hardison squared back at her. Hardison started to motion Sophie out of the pub, but came to a screeching halt with what Parker said next.
"I made a decision that you were too weak to make." Eliot winced, he knew this was growing into an monster and they were all too drunk and too frustrated to be reasonable. Hardison swiveled around and gave Parker a deadly look. She knew what she was doing and he could tell by her stance, she was about to drive the knife even further in. "Maybe if you were more of a leader, I would follow."
Eliot saw Hardison's jaw clench, but it disappeared as fast as it came. Things were being said now, that could not be undone.
Hardison was about to speak again, when he felt Sophie put a gentle hand on his chest, then stand up straight and walk right up to Parker. She was so close that Parker could feel Sophie's breath against her skin.
"You are just a thief. If you had used more of your brain, the love of my life wouldn't be unconscious in a hospital right now." She knew that she was now taking things too far, but her protective nature toward Hardison and all of the conflicting emotions she was feeling inside were now being unleashed.
"That's enough." Eliot growled in a low voice. He was now holding Parker's shoulders with both hands, not because of his concern for her lashing out, but to keep himself at bay.
"What are you trying to say?" Parker hissed back.
"Since obviously you are too slow to catch on, let me spell it out for you." Sophie paused so she could let the words sink in. She then continued with a hard look, "All you do is get people hurt around you." Parker froze, feeling the icy, numb feeling take over. Sophie continued without a beat. "Every time you go off on your own, something inevitably goes wrong and we have to swoop in and save you. This time you hurt Nate. Are you going to kill one of us next? I'm not going to take that chance. Next time, you do what we tell you."
By this point, each team member was fuming. Both sides knew they had gone to far, but both were too proud to back down. The anger rose from guilt, and after such a horrible mission failure, they all wanted someone else to blame.
Parker glanced over at Hardison. His face remained firm. Parker's chest tightened. She would never admit it out loud, but the fact that Hardison could stand there like that, letting Sophie blame her, cut her more deeply than she realized. Had it only been a month ago that they had been truly happy together? When he had been the one that made her feel like she could do anything? Where was that person? He was gone.
"Fine." Parker said between clenched teeth. "I'm going to take care of this myself, and then we are through. For Good." Her voice was even again, with a strangled tone that Hardison couldn't quite pinpoint. They all knew that this was the beginning of the end of their team.
"Like we would trust you to do this on your own. We failed the Robertson's once with you gallivanting off on your own, I'm not letting it happen again. I'm not letting you hurt anyone else." Sophie's voice had reached an all time high and despite the amount of alcohol, she managed to grab Hardison by the jacket and pull him out of the pub.
He glanced back, giving himself a last moment to look at Parker's face. Despite her hard facade, he knew that what had happened here tonight had shaken her deep down. It hurt him for a moment, until he reminded himself of why they had broken off their relationship in the first place. He then hardened his heart and followed Sophie out of the pub with a new determination and purpose.
The race was on.