Hello all - I'm so so so very sorry that I've not updated this for about three weeks or so it's been all go around here. I had my 4 year old off for Easter Hols for a fortnight, the hubster was also off for a week and then he ended up doing his back in and being on sick from work for a couple of days. I got a really bad bout of tonsillitis and then it came back after a week of being on anti-biotics. Meladdy went back to nursery last week so I was finally able to write without having interruptions of 'Mammy can I have/I want/Oww my foot hurt' and my favourite - 'It's bleeding.' Then I got the tonsillitis back and had a bad reaction to the second course of the bloody things. So with all this going on I didn't have much inspiration going on and I used my back-up chapters a few weeks back.

After having a kick up the bum from Valawenel I've finally rectified the whole situation and bring to you a new chapter. I know, don't faint. You are not hallucinating. This is not a test!

Thanks so much for the reviews and the pm's I've had asking whether I'd forgotten about this - I couldn't forget about this, it's the cause of many a sleepless night when I'm working out plot kinks.

Oooooo also after my last update I made a cover for this - a joint venture in Photoshop and Paint Shop. It's the plot bunnies fault. ;)

Anyhoo, on with the show.


Chapter 7

It had been a good hour or so since Parker had left the hitter to his own devices downstairs, in order to freshen up. She had been surprised to find a full sized cast iron claw foot bath tub in the bathroom, but she immediately filled it to the top with hot water, adding a generous amount of the Jasmine scented bath oil that she had procured from the cabinet that Eliot had mentioned to the water before sinking into the depths. The heat felt delicious against her chilled skin as it warmed her from the inside out and purged her of all the days grime. Despite her passing out earlier, Eliot hadn't mentioned anything to her about not getting in the tub, so she had assumed that she was fine to do so and she was so glad that she did because it had been heavenly, although it was only when she was submerged and she was relaxed that she realised that perhaps it wasn't the best of ideas.

Unsure if the water was a little too hot, if it was the bang on her head or if it was the liquor that was now affecting her, Parker found herself drifting in and out of sleep, dreaming a little now and then, but these snippets seemed to blur the lines of reality with those of dream when she saw Caleb Black cockily leant up against the door jamb, his arms folded over his broad muscular chest watching her bathe, his intense blue eyes taking in her every feature. It had momentarily occurred to her that she had closed the bathroom door to give her some privacy, but now it was open behind him, allowing her to see out into the Saloon. In her foggy haze, she wondered if it really was Caleb stood there or if Eliot was some sort of secret peeping-tom. If he was, well he wasn't a very good one which surprised her because Eliot was just stealthy as she was. Even more peculiar than the man stood in the doorway was that she could hear several things simultaneously. She could hear a lot of movement downstairs, sounds of clattering pots and pans, the clattering of glasses and bottles, muffled chattering, laughter and the sounds of the Player Piano combined with the sounds of the storm outside. Parker reasoned that Eliot must have found a radio somewhere and was listening to a local radio station, although even she couldn't figure out how he could hear it with the ruckus going on.

What was even stranger was that despite all the noise that was seemingly all around her, she could quite clearly pick out the sounds of both Caleb and Eliot's voices as they whispered in her ears at almost the same time.

'Emmeline,' Caleb's husky drawl was seductive and hot against ear made her goose-pimply in spite of the warmth of the water, 'Emme.'

'Parker,' Eliot's familiar voice seemed to have more of an affect on her body than that of Caleb's. It sent shock waves down her spine to the tips of her toes and settled in the depths of her belly. 'Parker… damn it Parker.'

The final time she drifted between sleep and awake, everything seemed to come together like a movie playing out before her. Caleb or maybe it was really was Eliot, at this point she wasn't sure, sat on the side of the tub, whispering her name, his hand gently stroking her face, brushing his thumb across her lips, before he eventually bent down lower so he could crush his lips across her own, it lasted only a second or two but it was enough to elevate her blood pressure and make her lightheaded and breathless. And then as quickly as it all had began, the haze in her head cleared and she was alert and lucid, and aware that the bathwater had almost gone cold.

Parker washed quickly and got out of the tub. She wrapped a large fluffy towel around her, collected her damp clothes and the red dress and exited the bathroom in search of somewhere to change. Padding barefoot across the landing, she noticed that downstairs was bathed in the warm glow of firelight and that the delicious smells of garlic and tomatoes wafted up from somewhere where only Eliot could be. She could only assume that he had sourced some rations from somewhere and was cooking up a storm for dinner, but from where he'd sourced them she didn't know. It made her stomach growl with an unrelenting hunger and it made her make her mind up about finding an empty bedroom to claim as her own all that much easier.

The one she chose seemed familiar to her somehow, with its dark mahogany four poster bed and matching dresser, but while she while she couldn't quite put her finger on why it did so it also it made her think of home, a home that she'd never had, although she was briefly saddened by that thought she shook it off as quickly as it came. The room wasn't huge by modern standards and had a box room feel to it compared to the apartment or her compound back in Boston with very little room at either side of the bed, but it seemed to be the master bedroom judging by the ornate carvings in the wood on the posts of the bed. Parker perched on the edge of the mattress, testing the softness of it by bouncing gently. It seemed comfortable enough and she was sure that she would have a decent nights sleep on it, especially as she had had worse in the past, sleeping on the streets and bunking down in places where rats could take a bite out of you they so pleased.

Parker set about changing, taking little time and effort to get into the red dress. The satin slithered down her skin and seemed to cling to her, giving her voluptuous curves that she never knew existed and her many years practice of getting in and out of awkward positions with ropes put her in good stead as she reached her arms behind her back and deftly tied the laces of the corset, tightly but not too tight that she couldn't breathe. As she dried her tousled blonde hair with her towel, Parker made a mental note to ask Eliot how he knew so much about the inner workings of the Saloon, unless he had been here before there was no way that he could have known about the electrics, the running water or now that she thought about it or rather smelt it, a food supply especially as she was under the assumption that the only food they had was what they had purchased earlier in the day and unless Eliot had braved the rain again, which was doubtful, it was still in the smashed up truck.

However, she knew she shouldn't have been surprised that he knew more than he'd already shared with her and that was why she hadn't quizzed him about these things yet, partly because she'd been stunned by the Caleb-a-like he'd become and partly because this trip had slowly turned into an even bigger treasure finding expedition than she'd expected. In the three years that she'd known the hitter, she doubted that the number of personal snippets that Eliot had let slip about himself could be counted on one hand, yet already in the space of forty-eight hours she had learnt more about her friend than she could have imagined and at the same time, she had learnt a few things about herself too.

Parker paused wondering if she should perhaps mention the bizarre experience she'd had while she was in the tub, and then thought better of it. Eliot would probably fuss over her for the rest of the night and grouch around the place banging and crashing things as he generally tended to do when he was in a bad mood or worse, he'd brood in silence. She suppressed a shiver; there was nothing worse than Eliot when he brooded and by her reckoning, he was downstairs already doing just that.

When she eventually came back down into the bar, Parker was overwhelmed by the sticky, sickly heat of the fire but she revealed in the warmth all the same. She had collected Eliot's damp clothing from one of the bedrooms and along with hers, she set about hanging them over the backs of chairs in order to let them dry evenly. There was no immediate sign of the hitter and it took her a little while to find him in the small maze of rooms at the back of the bar room. She found him eventually, with his back to the open kitchen door, his shoulders tense and his back rigid as he stirred something on the cook stove. Normally when he cooked, Eliot tried not be angry or tense as he said that these feelings came out in ones cooking and made the food taste bad, Parker didn't believe this though because she knew cooking was way of de-stressing and also because everything he made tasted fantastic, even if he'd just fixed a bowl of cereal for her, maybe that was going too far because cereal was just cereal but she was sure that it was all in the way that he prepared it, using warmed milk instead of pouring out of the carton and straight from the fridge.

'Huh hum,' Parker cleared her throat in an effort to get the hitters attention without just creeping up on him, like she would have done at home.

Eliot spun around, a wooden spoon covering in sauce in his hand and a guilty look on his face that was soon replaced by wide eyes as he took in the thief's new look, especially how the dress emphasised her gymnastically-honed body and gave her curves in the right places.

'Whatcha making?' she smiled as she moved carefully into the small kitchen and pulled herself onto the Oak table in the centre of the room.

'Nothing special tonight darlin',' Eliot turned back to his pot stirring, 'just spaghetti and sauce.'

Parker nodded, her stomach growling in appreciation. 'Where'd the food come from? You haven't been back to the truck so…'

The hitter busied himself collecting two plates and a large porcelain serving dish from the dresser, setting them down not far away from where she sat on the table top. 'No, I… I er…' he paused to push an imaginary wisp of hair from his eyes, 'they're from the store cupboard supplies I keep here for emergencies.'

'I knew you knew too much about this place,' the blonde thief mused quite enjoying the awkwardness that her friend was feeling, but just a little, 'what else have you been hiding Sparky?'

'Food first,' Eliot growled, 'then we'll talk.'

/

With their plates empty and their bellies full, Eliot and Parker shared the job of cleaning up the kitchen between them. The blonde thief washed and the hitter dried and replaced the dry dishes away in their respective places before returning to the roaring fire and the stillness of the bar room. Eliot slipped behind the bar and grabbed a bottle of Jack and a couple of glasses, while Parker settled down beside the fire, pulling her knees up to her chest as she snuggled into an upholstered chair next to the fire. The hitter pulled up a table and took the seat opposite her before juggling the glasses in his hand and filling them up with the dark coloured liquor. Eliot passed the young woman a glass and settled back in to his chair and watched as Parker wrinkled her nose up as she took a small sip. He knew all too well that Parker didn't drink often and when she did, she didn't drink the hard stuff, but the events of the day demanded something stronger than tap water or coffee.

'Urggh,' Parker muttered to no-one in particular as she set her glass down on the table. 'How do you guys drink this stuff on a daily basis?'

Eliot smirked but said nothing as he downed his drink in one and quickly filled the glass back up. Another one for Dutch courage and then he knew he was going to have to start with the explaining, although he sensed that Parker already had figured a good amount out already and he didn't think that she'd be too upset with him or at least that's what he was secretly hoping after her passing comment in the kitchen.

'So c'mon then,' the lithe thief goaded the hitter, 'are you going to explain about how you know so much about this place or are you gonna leave me in the dark? I can't promise I won't get mad, but I can promise I won't stab you!'

The hitter shifted in his seat, took a sip from his refilled glass and gazed upon his friend. He was momentarily taken aback by how pretty she looked in her red dress, the corset doing all manner of wonderful things to her bosom and her blonde hair falling in soft waves against her peaches and cream complexion as she sat in the orange-coloured glow of the fire patiently waiting for him to speak. In the three years he'd known Parker, he had only ever lusted after her a couple of times, once when he realised how flexible and supple she was when it came to pulling off all manner of moves that only a gymnast could do which had made him wonder about all the possible Kama Sutra positions that could be achieved in the bedroom and the second time, was the first time he'd seen her in one of Sophie's skin tight dresses and Jimmy Choo heels with legs that went on forever. He had never acted on these feelings because he knew Hardison was sweet on the thief and he would never do anything deliberately to jeopardise his friendship with him as he was closer to him than he was his own brother despite the fact that he was a Star Trek loving, techno-geek, but looking at Parker right now, he felt a stirring inside of him that he hadn't felt in a long time and he knew if he acted on it then it wasn't going to change the dynamics of things for their little family of five.

'What do ya wanna know darlin'?' Eliot finally spoke finally averting his gaze away from the blonde woman and staring instead at the darkness outside the windows.

'Well I wanna know everything,' Parker stated matter of factly, 'like why is there an electric fence around this place, why you knew about the power and the water and the food and whatever else you've not told me about. You've been here before, lots of times I guess.'

'Well I've not exactly been completely up front with the truth,' the hitter started, 'what I told you about this place last night were just… cliff notes I guess.'

Parker raised and eyebrow in his direction and gave off a vibe that told him to tell her something she didn't know.

'How I came to know about the treasure, well that was true… the map did end up in my great grandfather's hands after helpin' an injured man. Y'know that sayin', 'I own this town,' well I really do own this town. My great uncle Randy, well he was the one who found this place and bought it for a few thousand bucks back in the fifties from a guy who still lived here. He left it to me in his will.'

Eliot topped up his and Parker's glasses, noting that for someone who didn't tend to drink she was doing her fair share of getting through the bottle of JD. It did cross his mind briefly to tell her not to have any more given that she had a minor head injury and had passed out, but she seemed to be alert and lucid and he knew that he would be keeping an eye on her throughout the night.

'I've been restoring it for the past five or six years. I come here when things get too hot, that's why I've got the fence up and other security measures in place too. Cell phone blockers, GPS blockers and lots of tech that I have no idea about. I just paid for someone to design it and write me the instructions down. '

'Ohhh,' Parker gasped dramatically, as she pointed at him. 'You saw other hackers before Hardison!'

The hitter ducked his head to a side, a small grin on his face. He watched as the woman's own face lit up with a smile to match his.

'It's okay,' she lowered her voice to a whisper, although it wasn't necessary as they were the only two in the room, 'I won't tell I saw other hackers and a hitter too.' Parker grinned her all knowing, all seeing Grinch-like smile.

Eliot couldn't help but chuckle at her statement, especially as she made it sound like these previous encounters were illicit love affairs. He, like Parker, knew that each one of them, except Nate and probably Hardison, obviously would have had to have dealt with someone else in each others profession on occasion to get a job done, although Sophie seemed to be the only one to have vocalised this in the past and they all knew that she still did little things on the side with Tara in their supposed down time. Hell, he'd done a job with Quinn a few months back but he wasn't going to broadcast that fact in light of what happened in LA and he didn't actually mind the guy too much, in a different life, they would have been the greatest of friends.

'I'm wounded.' Eliot said finally, 'I have all that stuff to keep me from being found. This place is my safe haven. Other than you and my sister no one knows about this place. Each time I come out her, I check in with her, she's under instructions that if she doesn't hear back from me after a month of me coming out here, then I'm probably not coming back at all. She knows what to do in that event.'

'Wait, I remember now. The lawyers office in Providence, it was Holbeck, Spencer and Lovitz. That's the errand you had run. Right?'

He nodded. 'Yeah, Jenny, she's a sweetheart but me and her husband, we don't get on well. He took my daddy's side of things see… and well he doesn't like me spending too much time with their boy, thinks I'm a bad influence…'

It occurred to him then that Parker had no idea about his and his daddy's issues and that he may have let more than he was willing to tell her slip. If she picked up on anything strange, she didn't say, maybe it was the fact that she was now on her third glass of liquor, or that she just wasn't interested in what he'd just told her as much as finding out what else he hadn't told her about this trip.

'Hmmmm, the part I don't get,' Parker mused loudly, 'is why people left all this behind, it's like aliens abducted everyone – did aliens abduct them? That would explain the weirdness.'

'No Parker, no aliens.' Eliot placed his empty glass on the table top, pushed himself up out of the chair and made his way towards the bar, where he procured another bottle of liquor, this time a bottle of Jim Bean. 'There was an outbreak of Scarlett Fever and many people died, they're all buried up on the hill, near the church. There was a lot of hurt afterwards and some townsfolk believed the town to be cursed, there were strange incidents afterwards, fires broke out throughout the town, people reported hearing screams and cryin', said they'd seen the devil himself walkin' through the town at night. The pastor had passed and they had no-one to turn to so they just left to escape it all, packed up what they could fit in their wagons and left town, I guess what was left behind belonged to those who had died.'

'That's so… so sad.' Parker said as she pulled her legs underneath her. 'All that death, it must have been awful. I know what it's like to have to leave everything you've ever known behind. I got put in to foster care not long after my brother died and I remember crying myself to sleep for the longest time, wishing I could just go home and snuggle up with his blanky.'

Eliot was stunned by the thief's out pour of compassion towards the situation of the late townsfolk and the revelation that she herself had let something else slip about her own turbulent past. Parker's past was a far cry from his own and it was something that she didn't speak about often, if at all. It was only that while in Serbia when she'd been fiercely intent on freeing a group of orphans who were been used as pawns by an arms dealer that Eliot realised just how bad a childhood the petite thief had had and it was certainly a far cry from his own, modest and settled upbringing. Hell, everyone was shocked when the revelation about her brother and his death came to light – they'd been feeling out a fake psychic, Dalton Reed, doing re-con at one of his shows when he'd cold read her. He hadn't wanted to maim anyone as badly as he wanted to maim him that day, and he'd been deadly serious when he told her he could kill him as per her request – it would have been a good way to show his pseudo sister and their little make-shift family how much he'd come to care for them, that he was willing to kill for her, for them all.

'I'm sorry to hear that sweetheart,' the hitter said solemnly, not else what to do or say, even though there was part of him that wanted to pull her into his arms and take away the hurt that she'd felt, the way he'd done to Jenny when she'd broken up with many a boyfriend. Jenny had always said that his embrace was magical and could bring about world peace if it was bottled and sold. 'I can't imagine havin' to go through anythin' like that.'

'S' okay,' Parker whispered thickly, 'S' not your fault, it's not even mine, I realise that now.'

The lithe blonde seemed to perk up a little as Eliot made his way back to the fire side with the bottle of liquor. He settled back down in his seat and offered her the bottle. 'I'm sorry that I didn't tell you the whole story about this place last night. I was been a jerk and you and I both know I can be an utter ass. I just figured if I told you just enough you'd come and by the time you found out the everything else, we'd have found this treasure you'd be on a high and it wouldn't matter.'

'Well I am pretty pissed off with you Eliot. I thought we trusted each other, maybe a little more than we trust the others. And I can't deny that I'm a little hurt that you've lied to me,' Parker said pointedly, 'but I'm kinda glad that you did.'

Eliot felt his heart lift a little. He'd spent a fair amount of his time this evening preoccupied with thoughts of Parker's reaction to his confession. The last thing he'd wanted was to hurt her feelings or make her angry enough to run off into the wilderness surrounding them, storm or no storm, and end up God only knew where, but the fact that she was somewhat happy that he'd held back from her was testament that she still trusted him enough to watch his back and vice versa and that meant a lot to him.

'This place,' Parker continued, 'this town is amazing. It sounds crazy but it feels like home to me. So, tomorrow when we've checked out the damage to the truck, you're gonna show me around and give me the full ghost town experience even if that means you have to get up on that stage and do a dance like the Can-Can. You will make this up to me Sparky.'

The hitter nodded, a small smile forming on his lips. 'I aint dancin' no Can-Can.'

'Then you have to go to every play that Sophie does from now on – alone!' Parker laughed, warmly, her blue eyes sparkling with mischief, clearly she was plotting other ways of revenge.

Horrified at the thought of having to sit through the torture that was far worse than he had ever experienced at the hands of any militant groups or dictators that his path had crossed with in the past that was Sophie's attempts at acting on stage, he held his hands up in defeat and laughed. 'Okay, okay. You win, anything but that.'

'All right then it's settled,' the thief smirked, 'now what are we going to do with the rest of the night. Are you going to divulge anymore of your secrets? I promise I won't tell.'

'Not tonight darlin', Eliot grabbed the bottle of liquor and took a long swig, before placing it back on to the table top and using his free hand to dig around on the upholstered chair behind him before thrusting a fresh deck of cards towards the young thief, 'we've done enough maudlin. How about we play a coupla hands o' Poker and see whether we can't change that mind of yours.'

'Oh you're so going to lose.' Parker laughed as she removed the cards from the packet and shuffled them in such a way that one would think she was a dealer in Vegas. 'Did I ever tell you about the time that I pulled a heist at Caesars Palace?'

'What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.' Eliot countered, lifting the bottle in the blonde's direction. 'Everyone knows that.'

'Not tonight Eliot,' she Grinch-smiled again, 'but what what happens in Angel Creek, stays in Angel Creek.'