A/N:Hello there again :) Seems like my muse is in a slightly cooperative mood this week... so here's the next chapter. Even though this one still doesn't do much for the plot on the whole, I felt that it cleared up a lot of things about our favorite thief. So without further ado...

Oh and don't forget to review or comment on this chapter and all others. Feedback is craved and will be rewarded ;P

Thank you to all who reviewed on the previous chapters... hope this one is review worthy too :)

Chapter 06

"Hello?" came a slightly husky, sleep laced but decidedly female voice from the other end.

Parker was beyond confused now. She was sure she'd called Hardison's phone... she'd used her speed dial like she always did, and it had never gone wrong before. Without even thinking for a second, the thief disconnected the call and tried again. This time she made sure she called Alec Hardison's phone... she even peered at the small letters on the screen to make sure... there it was - it said Connecting to Alec Hardison and the little phone icon blinked next to it, signifying that the phone was ringing on the other end.

Hurriedly putting her phone back to her ear, Parker heard the a second of silence as whoever picked up the phone took a second to put to to their ear and speak. And there it was again...

"Hello?"

The confounding female voice. As Parker stood staring at her phone as if there was something wrong with it, she could clearly hear the person on the other end of it start to get irritated. After a couple of repeated 'hello's and not receiving anything in return but silence, the voice was getting worked up.

"Who is this?"

That got her going. Who was this voice asking her who she was?

"Who're you?"

You'd think whoever was on the other side of the phone would be relieved to finally hear someone speak, but if at all possible, the voice seemed even more irritated now.

"You're the one who called... you tell me."

"Well I called someone else... So I don't have to tell you anything"

'That ought to shut you up you stupid sleepy phone voice' thought Parker as she waited for a reply... that didn't seem to be forthcoming. A long couple of seconds later, the voice came back on, sounding a lot more awake and a lot less angry.

"Ok... whoever you are, sorry. I didn't mean to shout at you. Just picked up the wrong phone. Both of us have black I-phones that look kinda similar and I just answered the phone thinking it was mine. You're... just a sec... Parker calling for Alec?"

Who was this woman who was answering Hardison's phone?... and exactly how did she know her name and why the hell was she calling Hardison 'Alec', like she'd known him for ages?

Parker took a couple of seconds to respond but when she did, all she could stammer out was

"Y-Yes... and who're you?"

"Oh... I'm Shayla. Shayla Forrester. I'm Alec's... well, I'm his friend. I think he's still asleep. Do you want me to wake him up?"

Again, Parker was so confused that she couldn't think of a proper answer. As she dithered, she could almost see the woman on the other side also get a little uncomfortable. Finally, she decided that whatever was happening, would definitely be better figured out in person.

"N-No... it's fine. I just had to talk to him about... work. Yeah that's it... I had to talk to him about the office."

"Oh?... You work with Alec?"

There was a definite amount of guarded curiosity in Shayla's voice now and Parker had no idea what to say. She was still trying to wrap her head around the fact that a strange woman had picked up Hardison's phone at a half past seven in the morning and now she didn't even know what story the hacker had given the woman or even whether he had given her one.

"Y... Yeah... You could say that. You know what?... I have to go now... I'll talk to him later."

"Wait... Just.. Can I ask you something?"

Almost growling under her breath at almost escaping this horrible situation, Parker forcibly brought back her mild, happy voice that Sophie had taught her to use during grifts.

"Yeah... What is it Shayla?"

Parker was proud of herself that she'd remembered the woman's name... Sophie had told her that people liked it when others remembered and called them by their name during conversations and thought that if Sophie knew she would be proud too as she gripped the phone to her ear in a white knuckled death grip but kept her voice pleasant and inconsequential.

Shayla on the other hand, started sounding a little hesitant and unsure, maybe even a little embarrassed.

"Ummm... It's.. It's nothing... just that, how long have you known Alec?"

"Why do you want to know that?"

"Well... I've met him quite a number of times at the Horde Club and we met there yesterday too... I just wanted to ask you if he has a girlfriend."

The last sentence was uttered almost as if she didn't want to but the words were forcing themselves off her lips. Parker stiffened for a second... she knew from previous conversations that the Horde Club was a place where Hardison went to catch up with his gaming buddies. So that meant that whoever this woman was, was also probably into video games, the one part of Hardison's life that Parker had never become interested in.

"Why do you want to know?... I don't think you should be asking me that"

"Why does it concern you so much?... are you his girlfriend?"

The voice had just the right mix of incredulity, disbelief and surprise to make Parker take a step back. Something prickled inside Parker as she tried to shut out the discomfort of having to defend her position in her friend's life against a woman she didn't even know. And what was with that tone of her voice?... Could she not be Hardison's girlfriend if she wanted to?

All of a sudden, all of Parker's insecurities came to the fore and she couldn't help but remember every single occasion when she proved herself to be... different, and that was just putting it lightly. Flashes of her life ran in front of her eyes as she saw one person after another leave her because she was just too damaged, too broken to ever be normal. She could recall every single time Eliot had said that 'there was something wrong with her' She knew that most of the times in the recent past, the hitter had meant it as an almost compliment or as close to an endearment as you could from him. But all that didn't matter now.

"Why can't I be his girlfriend?"

There was a certain amount of righteous indignation in Parker's tone as she voiced that question. Parker knew that she didn't have romantic feelings for the hacker but she could hardly give up without a fight when this woman over the phone was being so condescending about her.

"Well, first off, you don't even call him by his name... you call him Hardison. What kind of a girlfriend would call him by his last name instead of his given one? Also, if he did have a girlfriend, he shouldn't have come to the club yesterday night looking for some company."

Okay... that stopped her cold. Hardison had told her that he liked her, he'd kissed her and... ten days later he was going to a club to pick up chicks? Granted that she hadn't really been forthcoming with an answer and she'd pretty much avoided him for the better part of two days after she'd returned without any explanations.

But Hardison was supposed to know her, understand her... he was supposed to be her friend. He couldn't expect her to just jump into his arms when he held them open for her. Even if she hadn't had feelings like that for him, he should've known that she would need time to make such a huge decision as to trust someone with her heart. Parker knew that she was being totally unfair to him, but she could help the tiny niggle of hurt and the slight feeling of betrayal that crept into her heart.

Taking Parker's silence to mean that she'd won that particular argument, Shayla decided to press her advantage home.

"Look Parker... I am sure you're a nice person. But I really like Alec... I know we just met yesterday, but we really seemed to click and there was something there that I haven't felt with anyone for a long time. If you're not totally serious about him, I would suggest you step back..."

"Look... Shayla. Hardison is my friend... my best friend and I just... I - I just don't-"

"Oh ok... So you don't like him that way right?"

Looked like the woman wasn't focusing on anything other than getting her own doubts cleared. In her haste to get herself straightened out, Shayla didn't really place the hesitance and doubt in Parker's voice or if she did, she conveniently chose to ignore it.

There was a long pause on the phone however as Parker knew that once she answered this question, she would officially be acknowledging the decision she'd taken ten days ago. Till now, only one person knew of it, herself. And if she chose to back out of it or change it to suit herself later, she wouldn't have felt anything other than a teeny bit of guilt. but now, she'd have to tell this woman, whoever she was, that yes, she didn't have any sort of romantic feelings for Hardison. He was just her friend... her best friend and nothing more.

But something was stopping her. She knew that Shayla was on the other end of the connection, still waiting for her answer, waiting for her to confirm that she was only Hardison's friend. If Parker said that, she would lose her best friend. She knew it... she didn't know how, but she knew it. If Hardison started seeing this woman, Parker would lose her best friend. There would be no more movie nights with truly massive amounts of junk food, no more sci-fi marathons and definitely no more dropping in on him whenever she felt like it.

Things were changing too fast and Parker didn't know if she wanted them to change at such a pace. Her brain kept telling her that she was being unfair. She didn't like Hardison like that, she liked Eliot... but the hitter was angry with her and Parker had no one else to turn to. She didn't want to lose her best friend to someone else...

As all these thoughts whirled around the thief's mind, she could almost picture the other woman convinced now that Parker did indeed have romantic feelings for Hardison. She was tempted to let the woman believe what she wanted to and stay quiet, and she might have had she been the person she'd been when she'd first joined the team. That Parker would've had no problems letting someone assume something that wasn't necessarily the truth if it gave her the advantage. But the person she was now, and it was all due to Sophie, Nate and most of all Eliot, wouldn't let her do that.

She could feel that Shayla really seemed to like the lanky hacker and wanted to have a go at having a relationship with him. And if Hardison also liked her, as he seemed to have the previous night, enough to spend the night with her, who was she to step in between them? And that too, just because she wanted a little more time to get used to the fact that things were changing quite rapidly and going out of her control.

She would deal with her rapidly spinning out of control life when she could, but right now, Parker needed to convey to Shayla that she had no such feelings for Hardison and also make sure the woman knew she and Eliot could track her down and break her if she ever made the hacker sad. So she took a deep breath and launched into what could only be Parker's version of a permission. It wasn't fair to blame Shayla if she felt extremely threatened by the faceless woman named Parker... enough that she actually had to re-think the idea of pursuing a relationship with the adorable man she'd spent last night with.

"Look Shayla... I don't like Hardison that way... but just because I said that doesn't mean that I don't like him in other ways. He is my best friend in the whole world and I am telling you right now, that is not going to change... ever. And if you try to ever... ever hurt him, Eliot and I will track you down even if you are in the south pole and make you wish you'd never been born. Did you get that?"

Shayla could barely get out a stuttered affirmative... she was scared of the crazy woman who claimed to be Alec's best friend and somehow, she was even more afraid of this man she'd mentioned... Eliot. It didn't make sense to be so afraid of a man whose name had come up only once in the whole crazy, out of control, twilight zone kinda conversation but somehow she was. And she refused to delve into this weird feeling any further and hurried to assure the mad woman that she wouldn't wanna hurt Alec consciously.

She was still rambling on about it, now in a bit of a panic when she abruptly heard the line click and the connection get cut. Heaving a deep breath and letting it whoosh out, Shayla was trying to get her emotions under control again after that nerve wracking conversation when she heard the sheets rustle and the duvet covered lump on the bed move.

Her rapidly calming breath hitched up again as she remembered that the woman on the other side of the phone call had been a friend of Alec's. Oh yeah, this man was going to have a lot to answer for... just for what he'd made her put up with this morning. And what was the deal with the creepy friends huh? But Shayla knew that she was an utter and complete sucked when it came to Alec Hardison. The man only had to give her the puppy eyes and she was ready to melt. God she was so whipped!

Two blocks down, Parker had just snapped her phone shut. Satisfied that she'd appropriately instilled the fear of retribution in Shayla's head, Parker resolved to put her confusion about Hardison out of her mind and concentrate on getting the hitter's attention enough to atleast apologize to him. She'd still not decided whether she was gonna talk to him about her newly, or not so newly discovered feelings for him. But she did know that she needed to talk to him about what she'd said and maybe get him to apologize to her in return because come on, even he'd been a stubborn pig-headed idiot back then.

But just thinking about him and his legendary pigheadedness, brought to mind that Eliot was so stubborn and such an idiot when it same to his principles, that even if he'd had any feelings for her at some point of time during their acquaintance, he'd have explained it away or just thrown it out of his brain. But the one thing that remained the same throughout the years had been the fact that even if Eliot got irritated or angry at it, he'd never been able to remain completely calm about anything around her.

Parker was counting on her making him uncomfortable enough to get him to admit to not being completely unaffected by her. But she was still not quite sure about how to go from there. But then, if she was the best when it came to planning things, she was also quite amazing when she had to just wing it. She'd get there... who knew, maybe the twists and turns along the way would only serve to make the journey that much more interesting.

With that happier thought in mind, the blonde thief bounced up from the seat and heading for the kitchen window, glanced at the sky on the way... it was going to be a beautiful day and maybe by the end of it, she'd have all the answers to all her questions.

A/N: So there it is... another chapter done. I have to confess that i was a little confused by it myself, so I don't blame you guys if you just want to pull your hair out by the end of it. What can I say... My Parker is a confused little thing but in my defense, I did leave her feeling better and a lot clearer about what she wanted.

So what did you think of it?

Plz send in your reviews and comments... all of them are greatly appreciated and serve as my motivation to write more and to write better :)

Thank you to all for sticking with this story and loving my characters like you did. :)

Lotsa luv and coconut macaroons

Macybear