AN: Ok guys. Here is the second part. .Dum (that's me being all dramatic) we find out more about the mysterious Charlie.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! To Truth and Chaos who is being so amazingly nice to beta for me.

Chapter 2 – Coming out of Shock

Eliot simply stared at the woman in front of him, giving her an appreciative look up and down. She had poise. He had to give her that. Eliot wasn't what you would call a tall man, he was of average height. This never fazed him since he had other qualities of intimidation. This woman, with her booted heels barely reached his nose. Can't be more than 5' 1" he thought. But she carried herself with a poise and confidence that could rival Sophie's.

Her hair reminded him of a burning flames; shades of warm red, flowing orange and burnt gold banded together seamlessly to make up her hair. It wasn't until she looked straight up at him and held out her hand in greeting that Eliot was able to get a good look at her eyes. Grey; a strange, rare, color to come by. As he held out his own hand in greeting he realized what they reminded him of. A few years ago he was caught in the middle of a hurricane while on a job in Florida.Right before the hurricane started/began, the sky went calm. A shad of cool grey encompassed it. There were no clouds in the sky. It was quiet. Eerie. Then, right as it was about to start pouring, when the storm was so close he could actually see the storm moving. The sky came alive with every shade of grey working, fighting for dominance.That was what he saw in her eyes. A storm waiting to happen. Her eyes held a promise of problem to come and that didn't sit too well with him.

When their hands touched he felt a jolt. Eliot was not the type of man to go around spouting poetry or doling out romantic notions. He literally felt a jolt of electricity when their hands clasped. She must have felt it too for she yanked her hand away as if burned by his touch and gave him a puzzled look. She looked at him like she was trying to see through and into him and when she found she couldn't she seemed upset. Eliot had had enough.

"Okay, Nate. Start talking." He said to the man who had dragged him here. He'd behaved himself up to now. Didn't ask questions, had given Nate the benefit of the doubt. Enough was enough. "Woman's four feet tall and probably couldn't reach the top of the kitchen cabinet without a chair. What are you so paranoid about?" Eliot finished with a growl.

"Maybe we should go somewhere else." Nate started to speak and tried to usher Eliot who was slowly starting to growl at him, towards the door. Eliot just stood his ground, crossed his arms over his chest and glared steadfastly at Nate..

"Nate," Charlie said sweetly, bringing the attention back to her, "I do believe you said something about lunch. I think we should get going before the protection you brought for yourself ends up being the one who punches you." She told the older man with a small smirk, "Let me get my bag and I will be right out."

As she made her way back to the door she had originally come from Eliot tried to keep the imposing glare he had on Nate but was sadly distracted by the gentle sway of her graceful hips. As soon as she disappeared through the door though, Eliot turned on Nate.

"What the hell, Nate? Who is she?" Eliot growled to Nate.

Nate simply smiled at Eliot. He hadn't missed the appreciative looks that Eliot had been giving the petite red head. This could turn out rather interesting after all. "She is our way to get to Moreau with all of our body parts intact." Nate whispered back in a hush tone as Charlie sashayed gracefully back to the men.

"Ready boys?" she knowingly smiled at them.

Nate led the way to his car and held the front passenger door open for Charlie.

"BMW Alpina B7 model." Charlie commented as she got into the car, looking around the interior, "2011 model. Nice touch Nate. But black is such a generic color."

Once they were settled into the car and away from the chop shop. Charlie turned to face Nate. The teasing smile she had worn inside the shop was gone and now there was a start of what could be called a scowl on her face.

"Who is he Nate?" she said in a pointedly annoyed tone glancing back and indicating she meant Eliot.

"What? You don't already know." Nate looked over at Charlie, confusion written across his face.

"If I knew I wouldn't be wasting time asking." She retorted to Nate in that same annoyed tone.

"He's a Retrieval Specialist. An associate of mine. We have this company you see…" he was interrupted by her sudden snarl of anger.

"Retrieval Specialist? You mean he's a thief." The woman scowled at him darkly, "I don't deal with thieves and criminals, Nate. You know that. All they bring is trouble." She huffed at him, a flush of warmth creeping up her face as she spoke, "Trouble I have been pretty good at avoiding so far."

Eliot was enjoying the show too much to interject. She just kept ranting at Nate waving her hands animatedly. When they reached the restaurant, Nate simply looked at her.

"Charlie, would you just hear me out?" Nate told her coolly "All you have to do is listen. If you don't like the offer at least you'll get a meal out of it."

"Fine." She snapped, getting out of the car and sounding like a petulant child.

Eliot just smirked and shook his head at Nate. "Are you sure you want her on the team?" he asked Nate once he was sure the fuming red head couldn't hear him.

Nate made his way around the car to Eliot's side and very seriously told him the truth. "Yeah, Eliot. There's no better Reader in the world than her."

"Reader!" Eliot all but yelled.

Nate just sighed, "Eliot let's try not to alert the entire city of this. She doesn't exactly advertise it."

"Nate!" Eliot glowered, attempting to calm his newly bristled nerves, "You don't mess with readers. They read your mind! Get in your head and screw you over and everybody and I mean everybody knows you Do. Not. Work. With. Them. They are nothing but unreliable trouble makers!" calming down, it seemed didn't work too well for the Hitter.

Eliot had heard about Readers. The government wanted them, everyone else, that knew about them that is, steered clear of them. They took what they wanted and then found a million ways to screw you over. Why Nate thought adding a Reader to their team would be a good idea, Eliot had no clue. Nate had never seen his Hitter like this. He didn't like it.

"Where did you even find her in the first place?" Eliot spit out thinking Nate had just moved into a new category of 'creepy' like Parker liked to call him sometimes.

Nate contemplated answering this. The hitter was not happy right now and the mastermind in Nate wasn't sure if divulging more information would help calm him down or make him angrier. He decided a version of the truth would have to work for now. "Sophie. They've known each other for a long time."

He was leaving it at that and walked over to Charlie who was slowly tapping her foot impatiently by the entrance of the restaurant.