Parker's eyes opened the way her feet tended to move across the ground: with speed, poise, and silence. There was something warm and soft around her, and her pain had been dulled somehow. She blinked a few times to focus on the ceiling above her, trying to decipher the cracked paint and water stains. The building where they were headquartered was new, and the hospital wouldn't have peeling paint. Forgetting her injuries, she sat up quickly.
The sharp intake of breath started Eliot from his chair by the window of what appeared to be an old fire house furnished sparely with dark leather chairs and a smooth wooden table, probably hand-carved. Parker's head hurt to take it all in. She was in Eliot's house.
"Whoa," he said, getting up and moving towards the bed, "Easy. S'okay." He helped Parker lean against the wall, supporting her head with his hand and moving the pillow to cushion her back.
Despite her look of exhaustion, Parker's voice was still sharp and quick as she said, "What am I doing here?"
Eliot huffed, holding in his frustration. "Headquarters isn't equipped for this kind of stuff. My place has painkillers and bandages and all that. I called Nate, everyone's fine, the bad guy's screwed over, don't worry. We'll head over there as soon as you're good enough to walk. How are you feeling now?"
"Better than I would have been if you hadn't forcibly drugged me, I guess. But let's wait a while before we try to pull another heist like that, okay?"
He smiled and sat down beside her on the thin, rickety bed, starting to pull down the edge of the woolen blanket. She tensed, clutching the cloth to her chest. "What are you doing?"
"Come on Parker, relax, I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to check how you're healing."
"No—no, I can check myself. Don't—just, I'm fine, don't…"
Eliot stood, holding his hands up in surrender as her face grew more desperate. "Listen, I'm only trying to help. Why'd you always gotta be so squeamish?"
"I'm not squeamish! I just… I don't like to be touched is all. Or… looked at, really." She turned away.
"Okay," he said, trying not to let the exasperation show in his voice. "I'm just gonna be real gentle, okay?"
She nodded, and lowered the blanket. Slowly, she pulled up her shirt to just under her breasts. "Check, then."
He gently laid his hand on her chest, trying to feel for the cracks. As soon as his hand brushed her skin, though, Parker flinched and whimpered. "Does that hurt?" he asked, alarmed.
She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head with a short, rapid motion.
Eliot lifted his hands and sighed. "Parker, I have to touch you in order to figure out what's wrong. Okay? So just calm down."
She nodded. He reached out to touch her again, watching her closely for signs of a freak-out. Yet again, as soon as he touched her, she gasped and tried to cower away. Eliot swore and paced to the window again, running his hands through his thick hair.
"I'm sorry," she said, her voice weak and shaky. "Really. I just can't…." she sniffed, and he turned to face her, surprised when he saw the morning light glinting off the tears on her cheek.
"Parker?" he said, quietly.
She was fidgeting with the hem of his blanket. "You know how you always say there's something wrong with me?" her voice was uneven and her shoulders started shaking.
He stepped towards her. "No, no, of course not, I was always just kidding."
"Well there is. And I don't know how to fix it. I don't know… how to be close to people. Trust them." She covered her face with her hands, sagging forward. She cried silently, he noted, but in a way that convinced him it wasn't just caused by physical pain or Vicodin.
Eliot approached the bed cautiously, afraid to scare or upset her more. "Parker?"
She looked up. He had never seen her so vulnerable, not even crumpled on the ground last night. His last defenses against forming an emotional connection with her dropped. "Hey, Parker. It's gonna be okay. I don't have to touch you right now. You just gotta tell me what's going on, okay." He gently sat down next to her and tilted his head down to look her in the eyes. "Everything's gonna be alright."