A/N: Hi! Here's the next chapter of my attempt at getting Eliot and Parker together. Hope everyone likes it as much as you seem to be liking the other chapters... This chapter is mostly Sophie and Parker... Just felt the need to put in some proper girl talk here, with a side order of crazy... :)

Disclaimer: I don't own anything connected with Leverage or Disney... oh wait... I do own a Mickey Mouse glitter pen. Does that count?... Yeah... didn't think so. So now that we have established that I do not own anything of consequence, just lemme write this stuff in peace!

Chapter 6

It had been two whole days since they'd returned from San Lorenzo and Parker was going out of her mind. Eliot was still acting happy and relaxed and it was getting on her nerves how much she was having to control herself and her reactions to this version of him. Was that all he needed to make someone think so differently of him? But no... Not someone, her. The attraction she'd felt for him had already been there from the beginning, and in spades. She'd just found it easier to ignore or atleast, tamp down her reaction to him when he was his normal grouchy self.

But Parker knew that if he went back to his normal mood right this moment, the feelings that had come to the forefront on her part wouldn't just back down again. Eliot had opened up a whole box of messy, personal, in your face kinda emotions by acting all happy and nice and they were going to have to deal with the consequences.

Sophie... Sophie was the person to talk to. She was always telling Parker about how human relationships were formed of emotions and how to relate to other people by understanding their feelings and emotions. Right. So she could just call Sophie and ask her about the weirdness abounding in her life at the moment.

That decided, Parker was the kind that didn't believe in wasting time. She just picked up the phone and called the grifter... not thinking about the fact that it was two o'clock in the morning. Two rings in, the phone was picked up and a sleepy, male voice that sounded eerily familiar answered.

" 'ello... Who'sthis?"

"N-Nate... I.. I... Sorry... I thought I called Sophie..."

"You did?... Oh sorry... Must've picked up the wrong phone... Did you want to talk to Sophie?.. She's... Well she's asleep right now. Look... why don't you call sometime in the mornin' Parker?... I am sure that she would love to talk to you then... Is that ok?"

"Y... Yeah sure... Okay Nate... I'll talk to her later... Okay bye.."

Well... That wasn't embarrassing at all. Actually, it hadn't been embarrassing, just a little uncomfortable. The thought of Nate spending the night at Sophie's. Oh... Poor, poor Nate. Not only did Sophie have an incredibly uncomfortable bed, but she also had pink sheets... Pink! Who in their right minds would choose pink for their bed sheets? Especially when you weren't a six year old with a Disney princess addiction? Sophie obviously. But even Parker knew that no one, absolutely no one else would be brave enough or... stupid enough to ask Nate to use a bed with a pink, flowered coverslip.

But now Parker knew that she would be able to talk it out with Sophie the next morning and that was way better than worrying about the whole thing and frankly, Parker was just totally frustrated with the way she'd been unable to concentrate on anything today. Anything that wasn't the handsome hitter that is. Eliot Spencer had been making rounds of her brain and dominating her thoughts. So much so that the man himself had noticed that Parker was quieter than usual and had asked her if anything was wrong.

Trust the guy to know her well enough to know that something was different about her but not enough to know that she was acting differently because of him. Anyways... She couldn't think about this till she spoke with Sophie tomorrow morning and figured out just what was wrong... or right... or... Oh shiny tomato! She was actually going crazy. If she didn't lo- like him so much she'd kill him herself for being such a pain. It absolutely didn't matter that he wasn't even aware that he was being a problem.

The next morning found a groggy and irritable Nate, a curious Sophie and a half asleep Hardison still mumbling about his WoW game last night, or early this morning... whatever, at Nate's loft when the thief walked in, or rather swung her way into the kitchen via the picture window. As soon as it was established that Eliot was yet to make an appearance, Parker literally dragged the older woman into her office, almost pulling her arm out with the strength of her yanking.

"Parker, Parker... calm down. What is it?"

"Did Nate tell you about my phone call yesterday?... Or I suppose you could call it today, but it was like really early, so I don't know whether it was yesterday or today.."

Sophie stopped the barrage of words falling from the blonde's mouth by the simple expedient of holding her hand to the thief's mouth.

"Shhh... Stop. Take a deep breath... now let it go. Okay. Now, tell me what the problem is. Slowly"

After following the grifter's instructions, the thief continued at a slightly slower pace... only slightly. It was to Sophie's credit that she caught everything that Parker said and even managed to make some sense of it, considering that Parker's narrative was... confused at best.

"Well, you see... he's always been there for me you know... I mean he's there for all of us, but for me, it's more than that. He understands me in ways I never thought any one ever would. I always thought he was very good looking, he's the best in what he does... I realized that he's always taken care of me one way or the other. He makes sure I am alright after hard jobs, he helps me patch up my injuries and stuff, he's the one who almost always around when I am testing out new riggings and he always makes sure that I eat right... He makes me feel... safe. Like I am somewhere where no one can hurt me. He makes me feel all warm and... happy inside."

Parker took a deep breath here, as if she was trying to ready herself for what she was gonna say next

"But now, after the Moreau thing, he's been acting so differently... I can't... I just can't seem to control my reactions around him. I feel all giggly and girly around him and I don't even know what that means. I've never acted like this before, I get... I don't know... I just can't get myself to say things in front of him..."

"You get tongue tied..." put in the grifter helpfully, not knowing what she was getting herself into.

"What?... Why would I tie my tongue?... Is that even possible?"

Immediately, the thief started to try folding her tongue indifferent ways, almost grunting with the effort

"Parker, Parker... sweetie, it's just an expression... You can't actually tie your tongue. It's impossible."

The blonde had a frustrated expression on her face now

"Then why would they say that?... If you cannot tie your tongue, how can you be tongue tied? This just doesn't make sense..."

"It means that you become unable to express yourself in front of someone. It usually happens when you are nervous, afraid... or when you like someone... a lot"

The thief started pacing in front of the older woman, arms gesticulating wildly as voice got louder and more frustrated with every word.

"I mean I've always had these... feelings I suppose, for him. Remember that day last week, I asked you about the weird butterflies kinda feeling in my tummy?Yeah... those butterflies kinda go crazy all over the place when he's near me or when he smiles at me nowadays. It is so frustrating not being able to control my feelings and thoughts around him anymore... I don't know what this is Sophie and I don't know what to do."

The mini rant was concluded at a near shout, the emotional catharsis taking a lot more out of the thief than she'd anticipated. Through all of this, Sophie had been sitting quietly, her eyes widening with each new revelation from the younger blonde. Now as the younger woman slumped over in her seat next to the grifter, Sophie finally processed exactly what Parker had been saying... And the grifter's face lit up with a huge smile. Their little thief was growing up... She was in love. Oh how exciting!

"Parker... sweetheart, don't worry. It'll be alright. There's nothing wrong with you okay?... everything's alright... or at least it will be after I tell you what your problem is"

At that, the thief's face lit up with hope of finding a way out of her situation and she sat up to listen as if Sophie was going to reveal to her the secret of life, the universe and everything... Oh sorry... everyone knew that!... 42, right?.. Okay... so not that.

"Okay Parker... Listen to me carefully. It is perfectly normal to feel this way when you have feelings for someone. Strong feelings... like love. You are in love and that is why you feel that way around Hardison nowadays. You shouldn't feel bad or frustrated about your feelings. You should go and tell him how you feel. If I know you guys well, I think he also likes you back. He had a crush on you some time back. I know he has a girlfriend now, a nice girl too... quite a good match for him, but if you love him this much, I think you should go tell him"

Now Sophie had gone into babble mode and Parker tuned her out quite conveniently.

"This is... this is love?... I am in love huh?... Never thought that would happen..."

Obviously, Parker's brain hadn't processed the whole of what Sophie had said... okay. Wait for it...

"Woah!... woah wait. WHAT?... Hardison? Wha... Why would I be acting that way around Hardison?... And why should I tell him that I lo- like him?"

"Well dear, that is how it works. If you love someone, you should tell them... not someone else, right?"

"Then why the hell should I be telling Hardison?"

"Because you love him?"

This discussion was rapidly devolving into something out of twilight zone for Sophie. She was sure that the blonde had shown some interest in the hacker before, but she couldn't be sure... come on, it was Parker. You could never be sure about anything with her. Like now, she'd told Sophie that she had feelings for him, but she was refusing to go tell Hardison that she did. Wait... wait, wait. Did Parker ever mention that she liked Hardison?

Mentally rewinding and playing back the rare emotional display from the thief, Sophie noticed that Parker had never mentioned the hacker's name... or any other name at that. And that wasn't all she noticed. This time, things that Parker had mentioned which hadn't really sunk in the last pass, came to the fore in all their glory

"Oh my God..."

'Now what?' was the expression clearly visible on Parker's face as she turned to the grifter who'd been oddly silent for the last coupla minutes. The look of dawning comprehension, accompanied by something else that she didn't know how to classify, on Sophie's face told her that the grifter was finally on to something.

"It's not Hardison you like... It's... It's Nate isn't it? Parker how could you? He's mi-... He's almost old enough to be your father... not to mention, he has history. Loads and loads of history with... other people...he-"

Parker shut her up simply by clamping a hand to the older woman's mouth.

"Stop right there. You don't wanna say anything else about that right now. I am gonna remove my hand now, I don't want to hear another word of it from you... Okay?"

At Sophie's miserable nod, Parker released the older woman while looking at her in astonishment

"Why would you think that?... I never told you I liked Nate. He's like... I don't know what he's like but I definitely don't think of him that way. I mean, even I know that you two are like... made for each other or something like that and I would never... please... Eew! that is so icky... me and Nate"

Parker gave a shiver that expressed her feelings about that situation eloquently. Sophie, for her part quietened down immediately after hearing the conviction in the younger woman's voice about her not having feelings for Nathan Ford. Even though the grifter wasn't quite done celebrating the fact in her mind, Sophie started to use her top notch brains and...

"If you don't like Nate... or Hardison, then..."

"Yeah. Finally she get's it..."

"Eliot? Oh... didn't see that coming. But now that I think about it, it makes perfect sense. I mean, if we created a guy for you from scratch, we couldn't do better than Eliot. He's, for the lack of a better word.. perfect."

"(Sigh) yeah... isn't he?"

Now that Sophie was sure that Parker didn't have any feelings other than the normal kind for her Nate, her brain was working furiously.

"Okay... so now we know that you like Eliot... a lot. So... What's the problem?"

"The problem? Where have you been for the last fifteen minutes Sophie?... The problem is that I lo- like Eliot... And I have no idea if he even thinks of me in that way."

"Okay. I get it. He's a tough one to call. Knows just how to hide his emotions and feelings if he thinks it is necessary. And we all know how over protective and stubborn he is, he'll just convince himself that having feelings about someone on the team is wrong. Hmmm... We have to come up with a plan... I need some time to think this over. Till then, just act naturally around him, I will try and find out if he has some sort of feelings for you by the way he acts around you. Okay? For now, just act normal... you know, your normal, not everyone's normal."

The brunette laughed at the peeved expression of the younger woman's face

"Oh come on Parker... You know we love you because you are you. I wouldn't want you to change for all the money in the world!"

"Sophie!... Why would anyone offer you so much money to make me change?... Has someone offered you so much money? Who wants me to change? Is it Eliot?..."

"Oh Parker, honey it's just an expression..."

"Oh shiny tomato!... these expressions! I hate them. They are so confusing!... Why would they say things when they don't mean them?"

Laughing, the grifter pulled the young thief along as the two of them left the grifter's office

"Come on sweetie... Let's go. The guys will be waiting for us and I am sure Eliot is here and has already made breakfast if that amazing aroma is anything to go by... Remember..."

"Act naturally... got it. Come on, let's go.. let's go. I smell that thing that Eliot always makes for me when I am sad... those cinnamon roll thingies."

A/N : So... there it is. Hope everyone liked it. Review and tell me what you thought of it. Next chapter is going to have a lot of E-P goodness. So stay tuned. The prompt-drabble thingy is also almost ready and the first chapter should be up either today or tomoro... Keep reading and reviewing guys... you make a girl very, very happy :D

Lotsa luv

Macybear