"That's not going to work." He told her leaning against the driver's side door.

"Do I tell you how to punch somebody?" She replied annoyed. "So don't tell me how to hotwire a car. Duct tape."

He handed her the roll of silver tape, wishing Nate hadn't planned this con on the hottest day of the year. Outside was stifling, but he was sure the inside of the car is what hell felt like.

"Finish that and then take a break before you get heat stroke." He told her, patting her hip.

A few seconds later she slipped out of the car. She took a moment to take a deep breath before taking a seat on the hood. A clear plastic bottle filled with cold water appeared in front of her and she smiled.

"I say the next time Nate has an idea like this we make him do it." She told him taking a long drink from the bottle.

"Good luck with that, darlin'." He brushed his lips against hers.

She grinned as he poured some water on the back of his neck. She leaned back against the hood of the car admiring the way the drops of water clung to his tanned skin.

"Wanna shine the hood?" She smiled at him.

"What?" His head shot around to look at her.

"You heard me, cowboy."

"We've got to finish this." He looked sternly at her.

"Ten minutes." She told him.

"What?"

She rolled her eyes. "Ten more minutes and the car's ready. Nate gave us the rest of the afternoon to take care of this. Way I see it that gives us a couple hours to waste." She smirked.

The slow grin that crossed his face caused her to giggle. He stalked over to her stepping between her legs, pressing her back against the car. She wrapped her arms around his neck and a leg around his waist.

Eliot woke with a start. The dream filtering through his head in vivid sun drenched colors. Shaking he moved slowly out of bed and toward the curtained covered windows. Snow fell in a thick, white blanket on the Russian country side as he stared out the paned glass. It had taken him two months to find a place where he felt alone. Where he didn't get the feeling that someone should be next to him, or in his head telling him what to do.

The dreams had started a month prior. Just flashes at first. Things he didn't want to remember, but did any way. Things he wasn't proud of doing. Of places and people he wished never came back to him. Then the dreams changed. Broken fragments of his life pieced slowly back together. The dreams with her in it were always welcomed at night, but left him aching in the morning. Things had changed yet again. Things he needed answers to.

________________________________________________________________________

"I swear if one more stranger touches my stomach someone is loosing an arm." Layla growled as she entered Nate's apartment.

She was followed closely by Sophie, who had the good grace not to look amused. Nate on the other hand had less tact than that, but the car thief seemed to let him get away with it.

"Had fun shopping did we?" Nate laughed.

"Seriously," Layla propped her feet up on the coffee table and sighed. "You hit the four month mark and everybody sees a green light to touch the pregnant lady's belly. And why do they all have to be so damn perky about it."

"It's over. Don't worry I'll go shopping on my own from now on." Sophie laughed.

"It's not like I'm that big yet." Layla replied looking down at her slightly protruding stomach.

"It's a new life. People find hope and happiness in it." Sophie told her as she sat next to her on the couch.

"Or they just like annoying moms-to-be." Nate grinned, walking over a pint of ice cream and handing it to Layla.

The car thief smiled and took the offering. This had been her newest craving. It didn't matter that it was thirty degrees outside or that the weathermen were calling for snow, the baby wanted ice cream. Layla had felt slightly bad calling Hardison at two in the morning when the craving had first hit, but he had told her it was no problem and an hour later he was at her door with four different kinds for her to choose from. The next day to her surprise she found Nate had a freezer stocked full.

"Parker and Hardison should be here soon." Nate told them.

"Where'd they go off to?" Sophie asked.

Nate shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine."

As soon as Nate said that the front door opened and the hacker and thief walked in. Parker bounding over to Layla. The blond thief knelt down, pressing her ear to Layla's belly as if it were the newest safe she was learning to crack.

"Hi in there. It's your Aunt Parker." Parker beamed.

"And you complain about strangers." Sophie huffed.

"Parker's family." Layla smiled.

"Oh, I think I felt him…her move." Parker announced lifting her head and replacing it with her hands.

Parker always thought she felt the baby move. Layla knew it would be another month before Parker really did, having only started felling the flutterings herself a week before.

"Now that we're all here can we get started?" Nate asked.

Parker stuck her tongue out at him but got up and sat on the couch next to Sophie. Hardison laughed and pulled up the file on their new client.

________________________________________________________________________

Layla left as soon as the briefing was over. She would have stayed and watched whatever movie Parker and Hardison planned on putting in, but she was feeling tired after her day out with the grifter. The woman should have been a professional shopper. Layla opened the apartment door and sagged against it, feeling grateful to be alone at last.

"You shouldn't leave the door unlocked." An achingly familiar voice told her from the darkened living room.

"I was over at Nate's." Layla told him, frozen to a spot just inside the door.

"Still you shouldn't leave it unlocked." He reinforced.

He stepped out of the shadows and Layla sucked a breath in. She hadn't really seen him since that day in the hospital. To her he still looked the same, the only differences being his hair was a bit shorter and the new scar above his right eye where the bullet had hit. All in all he still looked like the Eliot she remembered, even if he didn't.

She took a deep breath and forced herself to move. She flipped the light on in the kitchen, grabbing the mettle tea pot from the stove she filled it with water. She could feel his eyes burrowing into her back as she tried to keep her movements even and smooth. She felt the urge to place a protective hand over her belly, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to draw his attention to it or not.

"Is there something that you wanted?" She forced herself to ask, afraid of the response.

When she didn't get a response she turned to see if he was still there or if it had been her imagination playing tricks on her. What she didn't expect was to find him so close. He had taken the opportunity to move stealthily across the room. So close that if she just lifted her arm she'd touch. His hand brushed softly against her cheek, a movement that caused Layla's skin to burn. Her eyes fluttered shut as his lips softly captured hers.

"Layla!"

Layla jumped as the voice penetrated her dream fogged brain. Parker was looking at her with concern. Layla couldn't help it as the tears came to her eyes. It had been so real for her and yet so not. Sighing Parker let her friend cry, there wasn't much else she could do. At least for now.