As usual none of the Leverage characters belong to me, nor am I receiving any payment for my mad ramblings.
Thank you for your kind messages wishing me well on my recovery and thanks to those of you who reviewed. I always find it helpful to know if anyone is actually reading my work, so will reply in due course. Though first I thought you might prefer another chapter before a thank you note, so without further and in honour of the shows return this evening, I offer the following:
After the team arrived back to their leader's spacious apartment block they disperse in order to tend to their post operational wrap tasks prior to the traditional wash-up debrief, which is invariably held around the dinner table while they enjoy yet another of Eliot's gastronomic feasts from his diverse culinary repertoire. Tonight would be no exception. Hardison carried a sizeable amount of kit back into the office stroke apartment, although Nate seemed to be spending more of his time at Sophie's opulent town house, though it appeared this latest revelation had gone unnoticed by the others. Alec laid out his kit along the lengthy desk top and began plugging items in for recharging while simultaneously setting the wifi system to ensure all the updated information had been backed up to the office mainframe.
Slipping off her fabulous Louis Boutins and collecting them from the floor in one swift motion, Sophie excused herself and headed upstairs, swiftly followed by Nate who mumbled to the room in general that he intended on changing into something more comfortable. Seeing that Hardison was busy and everyone else had disappeared, Parker dropped her bag of harnesses and ropes back into the store cupboard, having tidied them all away in the van. She then decided to investigate what they were all up to, so set about checking each of the luxurious rooms in Nate's flat. Not so subtly checking in on the others, invariably opting to surprise the occupant by not knocking or if she had rarely waiting to being invited in. First off Parker stumbled across Sophie and Nate in his uncluttered sanctum, Sophie had evidently been scrutinising a problem within Nate's eye, vague as to why she had appeared intimately close Parker suddenly felt as though she was intruding on a private moment, which of course had kind of been the whole idea! Turning back into the hall Parker persisted in her pursuit of her intended target.
The surreptitious thief was delighted with the aloof character she cleverly portrayed and although not officially MENSA worthy, she had survived on her skills alone and achieved incredible notoriety at a relatively young age. Likewise Parker relished her depiction of the kooky blonde most of the time, besides, on occasion it had even assisted the team with luring in the Mark. One of Parker's most enviable talents was her acutely perceptive awareness, she rarely missed a detail of what was going on and given that her disposition was habitually overlooked she was therefore frequently underestimated; leaving her ability to gather intelligence second to none. Those talents aside, a person would need to be blind to have missed Eliot's sunken face and ashen sallowness, not to mention his whole dog-tired demeanour, sadly for Eliot, Parker was by no means blind when it came to his particular tanned, muscular and well-honed body. With a slight skip in her step at the thought of him, Parker smiled only for it to fade as quickly when she thought back to the van. Eliot had barely opened his eyes during the journey back, opting to keep them firmly closed, although Parker felt sure he would have been aware of the intense scrutiny from his team mates because let's face it, when had anyone be able to get anything passed the handsome hitter.
Clearly Eliot had been avoiding any tricky questions from his team mates about his sleep talking, especially as Sophie highlighted his drawn features and restlessness to the others. What Parker was unaware of however was that Eliot had been abundantly clear of her exacting scrutiny; not to mention the scuttling of rats around in the heating duct of his apartment during the night, instead choosing to put it down to the crazy thief being bored to begin with, then again she did seem to be spending an inordinate amount of time crawling around in his life – quite literally. He was quite unsure of how he felt about this, on one hand it was reassuring to know he hadn't lost his touch where beautiful women were concerned; although not entirely sure how he felt about crazy beautiful women. Feeling a smile creep upon his face, his heart began to speed up, something that confused the hitter intently. Still under the watchful eyes of the team Eliot was left with little choice but to slow his breathing and use an exercise that he found useful as a sniper to slow his heart rate. This had proved useful in preventing full on panic attacks and while it had been some years since he last felt one coming on, he would never forget how they felt or the dreaded warning signs. Eliot felt a cold shudder down his spine at the thought of those months he suffered from constant panic attacks, horrendously vivid nightmares and gruesome flashbacks. He recalled with some intrepidation just how they started, he would never forget how hard his heart pounded, then his breathing intensified followed by nausea, and most likely muscle tension with crazy amounts of sweating. He would do whatever it took to ensure he wasn't heading back down that road again. So when the van came to a halt, he was out of it like his life depended on his exiting that very second and straight into the apartment block without so much as a bye or leave.
Taking the stairs two at a time towards his own place above the team's office in Nate's apartment, fervently hoping no one would follow. He just needed to get through dinner and debrief before he took off for a few days and got his head back on straight. Dropping his duffle bag off his shoulder, he headed directly for the bathroom and turned the lock on the door to ensure he had time alone. Stripping off his jacket and shirt, which for once had returned from a job without blood stains or a rip from some wielded knife, he tied back his hair with an ever present bandana then ran the tap until ice cold water flowed into his cupped hands. Repeatedly drawing them towards his face he felt invigorated with each handful that splashed across his skin, he began to feel calmer. Wishing he was back at his ranch already so he could stand in the shower for as long as he needed to help ease all the tension from his aching body. HHe sighed acknowledging that the team would only wait for so long before appearing in his space. Deciding he needed to get in the kitchen and prepare something nutritious for his friends, knowing they would all revert to their junk food diets in his absence, he turned the faucet off, reaching for a towel he headed towards his own kitchen. Retrieving a homemade Lasagne from his ice box and depositing the towel and finally feeling some semblance of normality he replaced his shirt and headed downstairs for Nate's kitchen.
Parker had watched as Eliot shot straight up the flight of stairs leading towards his penthouse apartment, opting to say nothing merely observe him at this stage, even she knew he didn't feel right and not just because he'd seemingly fallen asleep inside the van or the discovery earlier today that he talked in his sleep. A little titbit that Parker had already known, not that she'd be bragging about that anytime soon. Of course the others hopefully including Eliot were blissfully unaware that she knew this, or indeed how she actually knew this, after all, it wouldn't bode well for Parker should anyone find out about her nocturnal observation of Eliot's sleeping patterns, or lack therefore of as it seemed lately. Despite what began as a harmless snoop around Eliot's apartment had transgressed when she quickly became engrossed in her voyeuristic pastime, the sly thief soon found herself utterly captivated and completely fascinated by an extremely sexy and handsome cowboy. Night after night she had watched him while he tossed and turned in a restless sleep, sometimes muttering words in a foreign language, Parker was sure she had heard that particular language before though where was currently evading her. Without arising suspiscion further Parker decided she needed to ensure Sophie was aware of her concerns. People might think she was weird or even stalking him!
While we are on the subject of Sophie thought Parker, it was becoming clear that she had been entertaining a gentleman at her place regularly over the last few months. Parker had spotted several little signs, raised toilet seat, dents on both sides of the luxurious king sized divan, not to mention the vastly increased amount of time Sophie was taking preparing herself in the mornings. Of course it would be difficult to prove any of these little things because Parker wasn't supposed to have been at Sophie's that early in the morning and certainly not letting herself in through the loft room in order to further acquaint herself with said occupants. It hadn't been until this very morning that Parker finally spotted the new man in Sophie's life. She hadn't been completely surprised to learn it was none other than Nathan Ford, just a little confused as to why they might keep it secret from the team, in a way their own odd little family unit. Smiling to herself at the knowledge she held already, after only a few short weeks keeping track on her friends. Watching as Sophie had tried to convince her that she was looking into Nate's eyes when Parker had walked in on them earlier. Now that she was convinced her concerns over Eliot were justified how was she to alert the others? Feeling both confused over Eliot and somewhat pleased with herself for duping the others, Parker seemed now to find herself in somewhat of a quandary.
Finally her thoughts turned to Hardison and while storing away the salacious details she now held on the courting couple upstairs, finding Alec wasn't nearly as much fun, as she plonked herself down unceremoniously next to the hacker and his pile of highly technical surveillance kit. Parker was just about to speak when Eliot popped his head out of the kitchen announcing that dinner would be 10 minutes and Hardison should clear away his junk so he and Parker could set the table. How on earth does he do that thought Parker with a slightly puzzled look? Noticing her keen stare he returned one of equal intensity before returning back from where he came in order to finish dinner. While Hardison moaned slightly about Eliot's brusk manner, "Why can't he just ask me to clear up, without insulting the equipment that keeps us all alive?" Alec muttered to himself practically explaining to the equipment as to why he was putting them all away, "the man ain't gotta be so rude 'bout things, just cos he don't understand them!" When from behind him Eliot appeared carrying a chopping board with one of his sharpest knives stood mid-air out from the centre, it was also laden with garlic bread for dinner. Placing the board on the cleared part of the table, Eliot spared a growl for the hacker and watched him gulp practically cartoon style while the hitter merely smirked and headed off.
"Dammit man, why you gotta pick on me, poor black boy from the streets, never done no harm to no-one." Alec Hardison shook his head as to almost believe his own ramblings, despite knowing the sheer amount of cyber-crime he'd actually committed before turning eighteen years old. Without looking up, and therefore not fully appreciating the complexity of the situation, Hardison carried on with his tirade, moving onto his part in the downfall of their latest mark. Eliot had once again come through from the kitchen carrying the last of the dishes.
"Yeah right, sure that's how it happened Hardison," Eliot interposed with a grin on his face.
"Least I had a way to help on this case," Alec said, despite knowing how much harder being the hitter was for the team, it still didn't mean he couldn't tease the guy.
"Come on y'all, dinners ready," Eliot shouted to the room in general, ignoring the hackers comment. He knew he was clearly in need of time away from them all. So many years alone had left him preferring his solitary lifestyle, though he often found himself enjoying working with a team, at times.
"Stop your growling man, just cos you didn't get to break no-one apart don't mean the whole case was a bust," Hardison sang out towards the kitchen, barely noticing once more the arrival of the hitter from the other direction until he plonked another pot onto a heat mat on the table. Sparing yet another glance this time through slanted eyes towards the hacker Eliot growled somewhat louder than the first time, causing the hacker to physically jump.
"Holy shit man, what you tryin' to do to me?" this time getting no reaction from Eliot whatsoever he added, "hey there, watch where you put that slop these boards are seriously sensitive!" pointing down to the computers and hardware that littered the sideboard now. "Still feelin' a little tired despite all your nappin' today there El?"
That was enough to suitably annoy the hitter and finish him off for the day, dinner served he threw down his dish cloth and stalked out of the apartment just as Sophie and Nate descended the stairs.
"What's going on down here?" enquired Nate as he looked between thief and hacker for some idea of what had happened.
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