A/N:Hello again... Next chapter is here. Hope this tides you guys over till I can resume work on this and other stories of mine... :)
They had started out on opposite sides of the team. She'd almost left the team half a dozen times because of him and he might've just restrained himself from wringing her neck as many times as well. The two of them had just not clicked... ironic, because now she couldn't think of her life without him in it. There was no one in this world who understood her better, who gave her the independence to be herself while also giving her the security that she'd never had before in her life.
But that had not been the way she'd felt when she'd first started working with him. It had been a regular cat and dog thing between them, the only thing they could agree on was that they wanted to kill Nate for making them work together so many times. But it had to be done... they were the thief and the hitter... the retrieval specialists of the team. Parker had no doubts about Eliot's abilities to protect her and the merchandise, the same way Eliot never doubted her ability to actually steal the merchandise... but that didn't mean they had to get along with each other.
But it had changed... slowly but surely, it had... he had changed her. She had changed him too, in ways he hadn't even thought she would... or anyone could, for that matter. The continuous connection of pulling jobs together had given them the much needed understanding of each other... not that either of them would admit to it even under torture.
But they had to face the facts... they knew each other. The facts that were important... not the hows, the whys and the wherefore's, which really didn't matter. They knew what made the other tick, but not why it made them tick or how it did so... and neither of them cared. Which, ironically proved to be a blessing for their evolving relationship.
Both Eliot and Parker had been lone wolves too long to really give up control to another person or let themselves open to some sort of hurt, physical or psychological, without their bodies and minds reacting and clamoring to get them to safety. The need to maintain a semblance of control over everything about them had proved to be both a stepping stone as well as a huge hindrance in their relationship. But like everything they'd ever attempted, they'd come through... mostly by sheer doggedness on Eliot's part and a lot of courage on hers.
For her, someone who'd learnt the hard way that trusting people was a surefire way to disaster, trusting Eliot enough to let him in, to let him see the real Parker had been probably the most difficult thing. She'd labored over the decision for almost a month, which was an incredibly long time for her impulsive self, but in the end, it had been unnecessary. Eliot Spencer had proved to her exactly why he was so special. He'd already figured her out, just like she'd started to understand the simple yet complicated man he was.
The decision to become friends had been a huge stepping stone in their relationship... the courage it took to take that step and open up to someone else, reveal secrets and details of their lives no one else knew, was such that everything else that came afterwards would be a breeze in comparison. Parker wouldn't admit it, but she'd worried that becoming involved with one of her team might make it difficult... different during jobs. But after she'd consciously made the decision to be Eliot's friend, she'd found that neither he nor she reacted to each other in any way that was extremely different from before.
Granted, he paid a little more attention to her than everyone else and vice versa, but that was to be expected if whatever she'd learnt from Sophie about relationships was true.
In fact, sometimes during the time they were only friends, nothing more, Parker had almost been disappointed with the lack of anything else in the relationship. Spencer had seemed perfectly content with letting her dictate the pace and status of their relationship and for the first time in her life, Parker wasn't really enjoying the freedom the situation offered. Mainly because she had no idea what to do or say to change the current situation or even if she wanted to change anything just then.
They'd just become comfortable around each other in a faintly emotional sense... meaning he'd stopped freaking out if she just went off on one of her incoherent rambles and just silently if slightly impatient, waited for her to start making sense before he passed judgement. And she'd stopped flinching everytime anyone mentioned family or friends.
They'd even started working together quite well in the kitchen. He recruited her as his kitchen staff and she learned everything that he wanted to teach her. She no longer demanded... she'd learnt to ask - that too in a rather sweet manner that always managed to melt his resistance to whatever junk food she was usually asking for. No mistake... he still grumbled quite a bit but she'd almost perfected the puppy dog look and he knew just what she was getting away with but couldn't quite bring himself to care.
To say that things had changed slowly, but surely would be an accurate description of their situation. In fact, things had changed so slowly and so subtly that it had altogether escaped the notice of the rest of their team... who were some of the best thieves and insurance investigator in the world. Not that it was in any way disconcerting to the duo. The hitter and the thief were quite content to explore their new found relationship in the background, out of the spotlight that they knew they would garner if either of their team members found out.
And so it was... for almost six months of cooking lessons, rappelling sessions, sky diving and horse riding lessons, sparring and yoga sessions in the gym, evenings spent just sitting on the rooftop with bottles of beer and an up close and personal introduction to Bunny.
Things were near perfect, their understanding of each other had reached previously uncharted heights and it showed in their work. Previously, where they'd needed verbal or physical signals, however small they might've been, now they just needed to look at each other. This however was noticed by the rest of the team and heavily commented on before they all came to terms with the fact that the hitter and the thief had somehow managed to make it work and had become what you called, friends.
They'd achieved a happy medium... two people who were secure in the fact that they knew almost everything there was to know about each other and that anything else which might come to light at a later stage would be assimilated without passing any sort of judgement. For both Eliot as well as Parker, this was the first human relationship of its kind and they were simultaneously relieved at the freedom and anxious about the longevity of it. But for now, they were comfortable and... almost happy.
But of course this is real life... not a fairy tale. No one lives happily ever after... and most of the dragons that you have to slay never fight fair. There was only one way of fighting in the real world and that was the fight for survival. So something absolutely had to happen to upset this applecart... this happy balance they'd achieved. And it did.
A/N: So there it is... another chapter done.
Hope you guys liked it... This fic is gonna mostly be in the past tense... I've tried to dabble with a slightly older, more mature Parker's perspective. You might have to put up with my rambling at times... Inspiration is a little hard to come by these days. I have no idea where my muse has disappeared :(
So as it stands, I would love to listen to your opinions and thoughts on this and other fics of mine. Any ideas for fics (both existing and new ones) will be welcomed with open arms :)
Don't forget to review... reviews are like a cup of hot chocolate with mini marshmallows on top during a cold December night.
Lotsa luv and Viennese finger cookies
Macybear
