A/N - This was supposed to be the end. It really, really was. Of course, so was the last chapter. And the one before that. Actually, to be fair, "Hesitate" wasn't supposed to spawn any fics at all. It was supposed to be a one-shot. And now it's become the never-ending fic. *Sigh.* Okay, so anyways, it's longer than the other chapters, so whoo-hoo on that account. Umm… Oh, it has more dialogue than the other chapters, and I have dialogue issues, so I hope it's okay… And I have absolutely no idea where I'm going with this story, but apparently my Evil Hand has taken charge, so I'm sorry there's not really any Eliot in this chapter, you'll have to take any grievances up with it. Oh, and please review. I've found reviews both make me happy and make me pressured into writing more and quickly. Thanks! =)
"Family" - Chapter Three
Hardison was in the kitchen when the yelling started. He froze, soda bottle half way to his lips, and quickly set it down, hurrying into the other room, anxious to see what all the commotion was about. He stood in the doorway, transfixed, watching the scene before him play out.
Parker and Nate stood opposite each other, Sophie watching from the sidelines, as Parker shook her head, blonde hair flying about, and her arms crossed in front of her chest. "I don't believe you!" she said, and while she wasn't quite screaming, she was definitely several decibels louder than her normal voice.
"Parker-" Nate began, and he took a step forward, causing her to take a reflexive step back, looking a bit like a cornered animal, her eyes darting quickly to the window.
"No! I don't believe you! I talked to him, Nate, and he listened."
"Parker, just because somebody seems like they're listening, it doesn't mean you've changed their minds. People don't just-"
"I'm not talking about people, I'm talking about Eliot! I know I don't know people, but I know him!"
Now Nate was shouting too. "No you don't! You may think you do, but you don't! You can't understand Parker, you don't know about his past, you don't know what I do!"
"I know Eliot!"
"You don't! You don't know him! He won't come back, Parker! He can't! When he was a kid, he - His family they-" Nate stopped suddenly, and Hardison saw his eyes darken a bit, his brows scrunching further, looking angry and sad, and an emotion that may have resembled regret. He let out a heavy breath, almost like a sigh, and met Parker's eyes.
"We left him, Parker."
She shifted her weight from foot to foot. "We all left, Nate."
"He's been left before," Nate told her softly. "Too many times." He was quiet for a moment, before he told her firmly, "He's not coming back, Parker."
Her face seemed to turn to granite, her eyes cold as she told him stonily "I don't believe you."
Then she jumped out the window.
Nate sighed deeply, and dropped his head into his hands.
"Nate," Sophie started, approaching him slowly, "What you were going to say before, about Eliot's family…"
Nate heard the question in her voice, and raised his head wearily. "It's not my place to tell, Sophie."
The room fell into silence again, and Hardison stepped forward. "Y'know, Parker seemed really upset. Maybe I should-"
"Give her an hour or two to cool off," Nate told him. "If she's not back by then, we can go track her down."
Hardison nodded jerkily. "Yeah. Alright."
Nate rubbed at the back of his neck, his eyes still a shade darker and far away. "I need a drink," he mumbled, walking out of the room.
Not even Sophie tried to stop him.
Parker showed up, just as Nate had predicted, only a couple of hours later, although her eyes were still cold, and she was eerily quiet. Her words to both Sophie and Hardison were kept to a bare minimum, and she refused to even look at Nate, let alone speak to him.
"Parker," Nate finally tried, "I didn't-"
She got up and walked out of the room.
Hardison waited a few moments, and when it became apparent that she wasn't going to return he went to seek her out.
He found her in Eliot's office, sitting on the floor, back pressed against the wall, and legs huddled up against her chest. She was fiddling with something in her hands that Hardison couldn't see, and seemingly not noticing his presence in the doorway. He took a deep breath, bracing himself, and entered the room.
It should be easier, he supposed, that it wasn't the same offices that they had spent the better part of a year in. That it didn't smell like Eliot's tea, or have the scuffmarks from his boots. He should feel grateful.
Instead, he felt cheated. There was nothing here to prove that Eliot had been with them. That he had been a part of their messy family.
Hardison's hatred of Sterling grew just a little bit more, for taking that from them.
"You can't make me believe him," Parker said, still looking at whatever was in her hands.
"Parker," he began cautiously, not wanting her to run off again. "I don't really wanna believe it either, but maybe Nate's right. I mean, Eliot's always been more of the lone wolf type, y'know?"
"We all worked alone before that first job. And we all became a part of this team. This… family. You're the one who told me that, Hardison, that we were a family, you told me until I believed you, and now, what? Now you're saying Eliot's not a part of it anymore? That he's just gone? No. I don't believe that. Nate's wrong."
Hardison sighed and ran a hand across his eyes. He knew how Parker felt. He wanted to believe that Eliot would come back too. That he'd finish teaching him how to throw a "proper" punch, and whine like all hell when Hardison tried to make him type something. That he'd just waltz right through the door like nothing had changed, like they hadn't made too many damned mistakes, that they hadn't walked away like the whole thing, the entire year as a team, a family, had been one big con. He wished he'd just come back so Sophie could stop blaming herself, and Nate could stop blaming himself, and Parker could stop blaming them both. Because he just knew that they could only take so much guilt and blame and anger before Eliot wasn't the only one who was gone.
Theirs was a house of cards - you take away one, and everything falls apart.
Hardison tried to think of the right words to say, something which he normally excelled at, but couldn't. He didn't know the right words anymore. So instead, he tried a distraction. "Hey, what's that you got there?"
She glanced up briefly, and saw his eyes trained on her hands, still moving restlessly over the small object in her palm. She held it up for him to see.
"A guitar pick?" he asked, mildly surprised to find it wasn't a small lock or miniature explosive of some sort.
"I stole it from Eliot. A while ago. I stole something from each of you, actually."
Hardison wrinkled up his forehead, trying to think of anything he'd had that had mysteriously gone missing. Parker saw his look.
"A bottle cap."
His confusion deepened at her words.
"A bottle cap. From your orange sodas. I took one of the bottle caps." She ran her thumbnail absently over the pick, catching it on the edge, and releasing it, making a tiny clicking noise. "I stole the things I knew you guys wouldn't notice I'd taken. So I could keep them."
Hardison noticed that she was doing that thing again, like she had done in Belgrade, where she carefully controlled her breathing, and swallowed a little harder, trying to keep a tight reign on her emotions. He hoped that one day she'd learn that sometimes it was okay to cry.
"Do you think Eliot has anything? Something that he stole so he could keep it too?"
This time Hardison swallowed a little harder. "I dunno, Parker."
He wasn't sure what it was that did it, but suddenly her eyes were fiery and she had that set to her mouth like when somebody was about to get stabbed.
Subconsciously he took a step back.
Quickly she got up, and marched out the door, and he almost tripped over his own feet trying to keep up with her as she hurried back into the main room.
"This is stupid," she announced to Nate, as though she were stating an undeniable fact. Although, Hardison mused, to her it probably was.
Nate looked taken aback for a moment, and Hardison wasn't sure if was for her sudden announcement, or simply for the fact that she was apparently speaking to him again.
"We want Eliot back. Eliot wants to come back. This whole thing is stupid. Let's just go get him."
"What do you mean "go get him?"," Nate inquired. "We already went and tried to get him back. We tried a couple of times. What else are we supposed to do?"
"Steal him."
Sophie choked on her tea.
"Excuse me?" Nate asked, flabbergasted. "You don't just steal a person Parker!"
"Yeah," Hardison quickly agreed. "Especially one that can kill you with his little finger. That just ain't smart."
Parker shot him what he interpreted to be a mildly disgusted look. "He wouldn't kill us." She looked back at Nate. "And why can't we steal a person? We've stolen everything else. We even stole the little naked man, and Hardison said that couldn't be done either."
Hardison thought that Nate looked rather like a goldfish in the way his mouth kept opening and closing, but no words were coming out.
"Parker," Sophie asked, stepping forward, "how would you propose that we even begin to go about stealing Eliot?"
Suddenly Hardison was very, very afraid. Chileans' bombs be damned, this was the scariest moment of his life.
Parker was grinning.
A very evil grin.
…Poor Eliot.
