A/N: The support for this story blows my mind! You're all awesome :)
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)
Chapter 7
There was no question that Nathan Ford had been a father. Sure, it was years ago now and his son was no longer around, but once you were a parent, the attitude never seemed to go away. He wasn't actually scary like some of the foster fathers that Parker had known, but he still came off pretty harsh sometimes. Even Eliot looked like a kicked puppy when Nate got his Dad on, mostly because he usually had a point, Parker suspected.
They were behaving like kids, that's what Nate said. Parker figured maybe her and Eliot had made mistakes but it was definitely Hardison who was being the most like a baby. She hurt him and she understood that, but so far all he seemed to do was be cranky and take the whole upset thing out on Eliot. Anybody would think it was the hitter that dumped Hardison rather than Parker, and that confused her a lot.
"Now we don't have another job lined up right now, and frankly I think that's a good thing!" said Nate, yelling across the bar that was empty save for his crew. "I cannot have you three behaving like this when we're running game on a mark. Somebody is gonna end up getting killed and I'm not going to be responsible for that," he explained to Parker, Hardison, and Eliot, none of which would look at him.
Sophie winced at the harshness of her partner's tone, and reached a hand out to his arm. She encouraged him to step back and let her speak, after all, talking things out was more her area.
"We just think now would be a good time for the three of you to think about how best to move forward," she explained carefully. "I understand you all have your own reasons to be hurt and angry, but you must see we can't go on like this?"
None of them even looked at her, nevermind responded with any actual words. Sophie was pretty sure Hardison muttered something and Eliot almost certainly growled. Neither response was what she was looking for.
"I guess you all need to make a decision as to what is most important here," she said, a little less kindly than before. "Our group friendship and the important work we do, or all your petty squabbles and unfounded jealousies."
With that, Sophie turned and swept out to the back and up the stairs to the apartment. She pulled Nate by the hand so he would follow, which he did with minimal fuss. There was nothing more they could do now but wait and see what became of the others being left alone together.
They were usually fairly sensible people. Childish on occasion, certainly, even Eliot who usually got so mad when Hardison or Parker seemed unprofessional and silly, but they were usually pretty serious about their jobs. Sophie dreaded the idea of this team, her precious hand-built family, breaking up all of a sudden. She needed each of these people in her life, and that seemed like a selfish reason to keep them all together. On the other hand, there was the work they did, the way they helped people. All that would have to end if all three younger members of the team, or perhaps even one of them, chose to walk away.
Nate let out a long sigh as soon as they reached the apartment, the anger from before giving way to melancholy. He was clearly having the same thoughts as Sophie, the worry that all this might soon be over. This was his family too, as crazy as the idea might seem, and he really did not want to lose anyone else he cared about from his life.
"You think they can figure this out?" asked Sophie, propping herself on the arm of the couch.
"I'd like to think so," Nate nodded as he wandered over and stood before her. "I knew it was a mistake letting internal dating happen," he sighed, putting a hand to his face.
"Hypocrite," Sophie was smirking when he met her eyes.
He found a smile as he leaned in to kiss her, a sweet and tender moment turning intense for a second or two before they parted.
"If only Parker had made the right choice in the beginning," said Sophie thoughtfully, fingers idly playing with the lapels of Nate's jacket. "It might have been easier for Hardison to accept her with Eliot then..."
"I'm sorry, what?" asked Nate, literally shaking his head in confusion. "If Parker had chosen Eliot? What are you talking about?"
"Oh, Nate, come on!" Sophie chuckled. "You're supposed to be the Mastermind here. You don't see the connection between the two of them?"
Nate opened his mouth to argue but found he really couldn't. He would not have automatically paired up Eliot and Parker as a romantic couple. At the same time, he did often send them out on jobs together, and they always worked well. Eliot made a point of checking Parker was eating right, and she had a tendency to be the first one to help patch Eliot up when he was hurt. They did have a pretty tight relationship, he supposed. Eliot even taught Parker self-defence before he worked with anyone else, and she did have this odd level of trust in him.
"Huh," said Nate as he thought it over.
Sophie only grinned. She knew now that Nate saw her point exactly, he just had to take the time to think about. Eliot and Parker had been the most obvious pairing to her, and she had worried from the beginning what kind of mess might be made if Hardison's crush developed too much. The smile slid from her face when she was reminded that they were very much in the middle of that mess now.
Down in the bar, she knew Eliot and Parker certainly didn't look much like a potential couple. They were sat either end of the bar, whilst Hardison lounged in a booth across the room, each of the three acting as if they had no idea they weren't alone.
Parker hated this. She hated that just because she didn't want to date Hardison anymore, things had to be this way. The two guys had been such good friends to each other, and now they couldn't seem to be in room together without trouble starting. They were both her friends too, some of the best she ever had, and Parker knew she had ruined it all. She had broken it and now she had to fix it. The problem was, she didn't really know how, and the one person she would most like to ask for help was one of the people she couldn't talk to.
Looking sideways down the bar at Eliot, Parker huffed and blew her bangs off her forehead. Nope, she really couldn't talk to him about this right now. Instead, she turned on her bar stool and faced Hardison. Parker had to start with her so-called ex-boyfriend. After all, he was the one she hurt most, as well as the one acting most like a kid. She hopped down from the barstool and walked over, stood by the booth with her arms folded and a scowl on her face until Hardison deigned to look her way.
"You need to stop blaming Eliot," she said matter-of-factly. "I broke up with you, and I know that's not great for you, but it's not his fault," she explained as one might to a child, jerking her thumb over her shoulder when she referred to Eliot again.
"You don't get it, mama," Hardison sadly shook his head, but before he could turn away, Parker pulled him around by his shoulder.
"No, I don't get it!" she told him, desperate not to get upset but finding it hard.
Parker wasn't much for the crying as a rule, not in front of people anyway. This team, this family she had built, they made her feel safe enough to let go a little, show a little of what was inside. They were also the only people that could reduce her to tears themselves, because she just cared that much about them.
"He didn't do anything, Hardison," she insisted. "Eliot is just... He's Eliot. He helps me and he cares, but he does the same for you too," she reminded him, biting her lip the moment her voice wobbled.
"You guys can stop talkin' about me any time, okay?" said Eliot then, appearing at Parker's shoulder. "But she's right, man. I didn't do anything to make you act this way. I'm sorry you got your heart broken, but you ain't the only one that ever happened to," he said seriously.
Hardison looked up at the hitter and then to the thief beside him. He had words enough to say but none were willing to pass his lips. The hacker didn't need this crap, and he muttered as such, when he suddenly got up and stormed out of the bar. Parker moved to run after him, but Eliot's hand at her arm pulled her back.
"Let him go, sweetheart," he urged her, pretty sure he was right in his assessment of the situation.
Hardison was hurting, a lot. No doubt he bolted so that they wouldn't see him cry, and Eliot could respect that. Even the toughest of men shed tears sometimes, and he oughta know, but you did it in private if you possibly could. Of course, Hardison wasn't the only one upset in all this. The fact Parker didn't run out when Eliot told her not to spoke volumes. She didn't usually care for other people's rules, not even her hitter friend's advice sometimes. She was as close to sobbing as her ex was. Eliot hated that.
"I'm getting a beer," he said, turning away towards the bar.
Parker didn't answer, just stood staring at the door still, trying to get her bearings. She really had wounded Hardison when she dumped him, maybe again now when she yelled at him for his behaviour towards Eliot. She couldn't help it. Parker only wanted things back how they used to be, and telling people how to act and what to do seemed like a plan at the time. She hoped rather than believed such a thing could work. You could just about force an animal to do what you told them, maybe even a small child, but grown up people, they had their own minds and they would always do what they wanted over what other people told them. Parker knew that best of anybody, living as she did to her own code, not even caring what societies rules might dictate.
Eventually she drifted back to the bar, sat down just at the right moment for Eliot to put a drink in front of her. He hadn't bothered to ask what she wanted, he just fixed her up with her usual, then popped the cap off a bottle of his favourite beer. It'd be nice if everything came as easy as the drink, if either of them knew what to say for the best, but they didn't. Every comforting line that ran through Eliot's head sounded cliché and dumb. Parker was just at a complete loss, feeling as if she were drowning in the deep end of the pool. She'd never been here before, and she didn't know how to get out.
"He'll come around," said Eliot eventually, leaning across from the service side of the bar with his beer bottle between his hands. "When he calms down and everything, he'll be okay."
"Really?" Parker asked, looking up to meet his eyes. "You believe that?"
"Yeah," Eliot nodded slowly. "Parker, people break up sometimes, and yeah, it hurts a lot, but you have to get over it. Some day Hardison is gonna realise that you did the right thing for the both of you, and that might take a while, but he will."
Parker wanted to believe that. This was Eliot, after all, he didn't lie to her, and he knew a whole lot about relationships, that was for sure. Still, it didn't seem as if Hardison would ever be the same again as things stood now. Parker was pretty sure she never would be either.
"Sometimes I think this team would have been better off without me in it," she sighed.
"Bull!" Eliot responded sharply. "Seriously, Parker? This team would not function without you in it. It wouldn't work without any one of us, because this is how it's supposed to be," he said definitely, pointing a finger into the bar top to emphasise each important word. "We all need each other."
Parker met his eyes and couldn't look away. They all needed each other. Yeah, she believed that, but above all other members of the team, Parker believed she needed Eliot most. It was scary as hell to realise it, but it was there and it so real that Parker could hardly stand it. If she had felt this way about Hardison, maybe they could've been together like he wanted, but she never did. Only Eliot caused these feelings in her, but Parker wasn't so sure it was okay to tell him that.
"Sometimes I think that... that if I'd just made a move sooner, then Hardison wouldn't ever have thought..." she stumbled over what she meant to say, swallowing hard and trying to continue. "Because you and me would have been..."
Parker shook her head as her voice faded away. She didn't know how to do this, how to explain herself. Feelings and caring, it never came naturally to her. She had so few people that ever earned her trust or love in any form. There was Archie, a couple of fellow foster kids maybe, but nobody like the members of her team. Parker sure never felt the same for everybody else how she felt for Eliot. His eyes locked on hers like this, the two of them so close that she could feel his breath in her face, she couldn't stand it.
"Parker?" he asked, full of concern, like always.
Honestly, Eliot was worried about what was happening here. Parker didn't usually get so stuck trying to talk, especially not to him. She said whatever was in her head, no filter. As annoying as that could be, as inappropriate too, it came in useful. At least he knew what she was thinking and to always take her at face value. This was new, and weird, and just a little scary.
"I... I have to go," said Parker suddenly, and then she was gone.
Eliot barely managed to blink, never mind yell for her to stop, before she was out of there, the door to McRorys swinging shut behind her with a clang.
"There's something wrong with that woman," he muttered to himself, and it bothered him that he might know just exactly what her problem was.
To Be Continued...
