Author's note: I am soooooo sorry. This chapter is long and I couldn't stop writing! I think I should be able to update as usual now. Again, thanks for being patient with me.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but Leola.
Please review!
Chapter 11: Mr. Turkey
Leola headed upstairs and walked into Nate's. The first person she saw was Sophie. She walked over and smiled. "Hey Sophie!" Leola wrapped her in a hug. "How are you?"
Sophie shrugged and gave a small smile. "Oh you know." Leola's smile faltered as she looked past Sophie to see Nate with a drink in his hand. She gave Sophie a sympathetic smile.
"He will come around." Sophie smiled. "How are you? Get want you were there to do?"
Leola grinned and nodded. "I was in a tight spot for a moment but I got it done. The phone that Hardison made for me helped a lot." She looked around to see if Hardison was around. "Speaking of which, is Hardison still alive? Eliot and Hardison were arguing and well, he said to avenge him if he wasn't alive."
Sophie laughed, giving her a weird look. "Yeah he's just watching TV." Sophie scratched her head as Leola gave her a smile and headed over to the living room.
Sophie sighed, looking at Nate, wondering if he would ever get better. She headed over to the kitchen to grab a glass of water.
Leola walked into the living room and was nearly knocked off her feet. "OHH!" she grabbed on to the couch for support as she tried to figure out what exactly hit her.
"YOU"RE BACK!" Parker practically screamed into her ear. Leola laughed and gave Parker a hug too.
"Yes I am." She smiled happily as Parker gave her one of the cookies from the container. "Aw thanks Parker, that's nice of you."
"Hey that's not fair, come on Parker. I mean, you give her one but not me?" Hardison's voice piped into the conversation.
Parker gave him a glare. "Yes but she didn't take a picture of me now did she?"
"Oh come on! That was picture quality." Hardison protested as Parker stuck her tongue out and walked out. Leola watched this exchange and raised an eyebrow as Hardison. Hardison just shrugged. "What's up?"
Leola nodded back. "Nothing much."
"Hey where's Eliot? I thought he'd be with you." Hardison commented, looking over his shoulder.
Leola gave him a weird look. "What did you do, pick on everyone while I was gone? What'd I miss?"
Hardison snickered. "Parker was on happy pills and well...I just had to take a picture." He pulled out a picture and showed it to her, keeping a lookout for Parker.
Leola looked at the picture and smiled. Parker had the biggest smile on her face and she had her arms around Hardison and Eliot. Nate and Sophie were in the background smiling. She couldn't help but laugh as Eliot's incredulous expression at the happy Parker. What really caught her attention was Hardison big smile. It was just as big as Parker's.
"Were you on happy pills too?" Leola asked, noticing this.
Hardison frowned and leaned in closer to the photograph. "Uh...no. why?"
"No reason." Leola quickly jumped up and handing Hardison, back the photo. "I see why she would be mad though. She does look extremely happy in that photo. Oh and Eliot should be here in five minutes anyways. He was just dropping something off."
"Ah, I see..." Hardison said, turning around to watch some TV.
Leola walked into the kitchen and parker was up in the counter munching on some cookies and Sophie was sitting down with her drink of water. "What no job yet?" Leola asked as she sat down, grabbing a Pepsi.
"No not yet. We might have another one either today or tomorrow. At least that's what Nate says." Sophie replied.
Leola frowned and was going to say something as Eliot walked in. She instantly smiled and gave him a hug. "Hello, what'd I miss?" He said giving her a tight squeeze back.
"Uh nothing much. I haven't really seen Nate, Hardison is watching TV and we are in here." Leola gestured to Sophie and Parker. "However I must say Hardison seems to have gotten into many pickles while I was gone." She commented, looking suspiciously at Eliot.
"I have no clue what you're talk'n about." He sounded confused. Parker snorted and rolled her eyes.
"She means Hardison has gotten himself into trouble. Mmm, these cookies are REALLY good." Parker shoved another in her mouth and smiled.
Eliot shook his head and sat himself down as Hardison headed into the kitchen.
"So what did you do to make everyone mad this time Hardison" Leola teased.
"He nearly got himself blown up for one." Eliot growled. "And he wanted to use a bag of bricks to get himself out of it."
Leola giggled, picturing this in her head.
"HEY! Like I said before, bag of bricks is a good sound plan." Hardison protested as Eliot rolled his eyes. "And you agreed with me after so don't start dude."
"Very nice. Glad to see I don't have to avenge you." Leola laughed as Hardison nodded.
"I got him back though, revenge is always sweet."
Leola nodded sarcastically. "Right." Looking over at Sophie, she asked, "So what happened on this job." Sophie explained and Leola had to laugh when she got up to the point where Parker was on happy pills.
"I'm sorry Parker but that's just too funny." She laughed again. "And I saw that photo. It's cute. I especially love everyone's expressions." She nudged Eliot. "Including yours." Eliot smiled, his head propped on his hand.
"Yeah well Eliot and Hardison were at stripper bars." Parker shot back, looking at Hardison. Hardison's and Eliot's eyes widened. Parker looked confused for second and then it dawned on her. "Oh..."
Sophie quickly jumped in. "It was to find our guy, it was just business."
Leola gave Eliot a look as he smiled sheepishly. "Yeah I'm sure they were forced to go." She spoke dryly. She shrugged. "It's fine. I'm sure Eliot would be ok if I went clubbing one of these weekends with the girls." She smiled as Eliot opened his mouth to argue but thought better of it.
The team laughed and Eliot sighed in defeat, not happy with this. "It was just business but if you must, I'm good with it."
"Ah you are, are you?"
"Yeah well, if it makes you feel better, Hardison spilled slushee in my car and we had to fight at the bars so technically we weren't enjoying ourselves."
"Oh really? So that's why you were cleaning his truck." She nodded as it all made sense.
"Yeah well I got him back." Hardison slurped up his orange pop and Parker tried to hold in her laughter.
"And how is that?" Leola asked, wondering if she wanted to know.
"Don't even thi—"
"I told the secretary lady that I was Eliot's 'partner' "Hardison grinned and jumped out of reach from Eliot who lunged at him. Leola burst out laughing with Parker.
"IT'S NOT FUNNY!" Eliot lunged at Leola but it just made her laugh harder. She grabbed her sides as she tried to control it.
"Oh that was good Hardison, very nice. I see why everyone wants to kill you."
Hardison chuckled. "Well I also needed a way in so..."
She looked over at Eliot who was not very pleased with this conversation. "You said you weren't going to tell her" he growled.
"Well Parker wasn't suppose to mention the stripper bars" He pointed out.
"Yes but you weren't going to show the pictures." Parker argued back.
Leola just sighed, glad to be back. Sophie walked over and sat down beside her. "Well, this is very interesting."
"Yes, yes it is. I'm gone for a week and Nate was in rehab, Hardison almost got blown up, Parker was on happy pills and Eliot was cheating on me with another man." She laughed at the last part, it was just too funny. "And what about you Sophie? Do anything noteworthy?"
Sophie laughed and showed off her new heels. "Like them?"
Leola agreed. "Those are really nice." They were Gucci heels, gold opened toed with the front part of it scrunched elegantly into a twisted knot. "I have to go shopping with you sometime."
Sophie's eyes lit up. "Well in that case, we shall do it before clubbing." She smiled and then stopped. "Wait are you really going clubbing?"
"Yeah we can if you'd like. We will just force Parker to come along." They both looked at Parker who was looking around in the cupboards. "Well, I should have some dresses she can borrow. It's green and hugs the body with one strap to show off her shoulder. Yeah that should look nice on her." Leola frowned. "I don't have shoes to go with it though."
"Oh I have the perfect shoes." Sophie smiled in anticipation and Leola couldn't help but smile.
"Sounds like a plan." Leola laughed patting Eliot on the shoulder as he growled under his breath. Nate walked into the kitchen and Leola nearly did a double take. He looked worse than before. His eyes were rimmed red and as he said hello, she noticed a very slight slurring. She shook herself out of scrutinizing and managed to hide what she was thinking. "Hey Nate, how are you?"
"Never better." he gave her a loose smile before gulping whatever was in his cup.
They chatted for a while and Hardison's eyes nearly bugged out of his head when Leola mentioned she normally threw her phones away. "You were going to throw it away? Seriously?"
"No not really...look I still have it see? I won't throw anything of yours away. I promise." Leola spoke, trying to get Hardison calmed down. Eliot was enjoying this however.
He snickered and she slapped his arm. "Not nice you."
Eliot nudged her back causing her to scowl at him. He found it funny. "Come on, let's head out."
He took her hand and held it behind his back and he pulled her to the door as quickly as possible. "Uh ok then. Bye" she yelled out barely before Eliot had closed the door.
"And where are we going exactly?" she asked, confused why Eliot wanted to get out.
He shrugged his shoulder thinking. "Dunno." He gave her a playful smile as they got into the elevator and Leola nodded sarcastically.
"Yes well dunno should be a very nice place to visit this time of year, lots of snow." She teased, a smile forming on her lips. Eliot looked at her and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear and kissed her. "mmm. What did I do to deserve that?" she asked a little breathless.
Eliot chuckled and kissed her nose. "Just missed you."
Her heart thumped and her eyes locked with his. "I missed you too." She whispered and kissed him this time. The elevator dinged and the door opened.
"ahem." A stern looking man cleared his throat.
"Oh sorry." Leola giggled as her cheeks went a little red. "He's just too sexy not to kiss in the elevator." She stated, patting Eliot on the chest and winking at the stern looking guy as she walked out. The man's jaw dropped and Eliot walked out behind her, nodding his head at the guy, a smug smile on his face.
"How you doing?" Eliot said giving the man a cheeky smile. Leola laughed as the guy just stood there gaping and the doors closed on him.
A couple days later, Leola decided to hold a dinner for all of them. She never actually sat down and ate with the team so she figured it'd be a good way to hang with all of them. So in the morning She went out grocery shopping, grabbing a big turkey, potatoes, stuffing, cranberries and carrots. She picked up some other side dishes she wanted to make and dessert.
As she walked up to her apartment, she stopped and looked around for the homeless guy Fred but didn't see him. She frowned, since this wasn't like him. She sighed and struggled up the stairs with the grocery and practically fell into her apartment with a big thud. She groaned as she set the groceries down. "Dang Mr. Turkey, how much do you weigh?" She picked them up and started the process of getting Mr. Turkey in the oven. She glanced at the clock and saw it was only nine. She flipped on some music and turned it up loudly. She sang along and got the turkey in the oven and began mixing up the side dishes to put on for later. She was so focused on making the dinner; she didn't notice the door open. As she turned around to grab the potatoes, she saw some footprints on her floor. She stopped and crouched down slightly, her hand clenching around the metal spatula tightly. She tiptoed around the corner but saw nobody. She frowned and went the other way and bashed into someone. She screamed and smacked him on the head with the spatula and tried to knee him but he blocked it. He was screaming something but she couldn't hear over the music. She whipped around and ran into the other room. The music turned off.
"Leola, it's me." Eliot's voice rang out.
Ohhh boy, she thought as she ran back into the kitchen and laughed embarrassed. "Oh god sorry Hun. I thought you were someone else.' She smacked him on the arm. "Don't you not remember the last time you snuck up on me?"
Eliot grumbled. "Kind of hard to forget when a spatula comes flying at you."
She laughed and set the spatula down. "Sorry about that." She walked over and inspected it. He had a red mark in the shape of the spatula. She giggled causing him to glare. She kissed him on the lips and turned around to cover her potatoes to cook later.
"Yeah I'm sure you're sorry." He relied sarcastically, his arms snaking around her waist. "What are you cooking?"
"A turkey dinner for you and the team. I never actually sat down and ate with everyone so I thought why not."
She felt Eliot chuckle. "Did you call everyone?"
She frowned. She didn't think of that. "Actually no I didn't." She looked up at him. "Wanna do that for me?" she gave him her best bright eyed look. He rolled his eyes and kissed her temple before heading to the phone.
She grinned happily and turned back to the stove. She grabbed another pot and put on some eggs to boil. She was going to make mashed potatoes as well as potatoes salad. If they didn't eat it today, she could always eat it for lunch. Or give it to Fred if he came back. An uneasy feeling came over her as she thought of Fred. She didn't know why but she felt something might have happened to him. She shrugged it off, thinking he could have gone for help or decided to wander. He had wandered before. She glanced at the clock and saw it was around twelve. She was surpised; she didnt think she had been in the kitchen THAT long.
Eliot came back and reported everyone can make it for dinner. "I told them I'd beat em up if they didn't come."
She laughed; knowing Eliot would never do such thing. "Why thank you." She walked over and wrapped her arms around his neck. "You're awesome."
He laughed, putting his arms around her waist. "Well like I said, I'm here to make your boring life exciting." He teased, kissing her on the lips.
She pretended to be insulted and playfully slapped him. "My life is not boring!" she gave a mocking huff and turned her back on him.
He wrapped his arms around her stomach, kissing her neck. "You sure about that?"
His kisses sent made her tingle everywhere and her senses were on fire. "Oh..." she trailed off, enjoying his hands as they ran down her body. She turned around and kissed him, her hands undo the buttons of his shirt. He walked backwards out of the kitchen and into the hallway; his back against the wall. "Maybe you're right. Want to make my life exciting now?" she asked slyly, sliding her hand up his shirt, pulling it off in one fluid motion.
He smiled. "What about the food?"
She snorted. "Food? Seriously? It's Mr. Turkey, he must cook all day. He's a big boy. Anyways it's the one food that you can leave to cook while you go and do much more exciting things."
He stared at her for a second and grinned, kissing her. His hands went around her hips and lifted her up and pushing her against the wall, knocking one of the pictures offs the wall. She squealed and laughed and ducked as he tripped over the hamper she had left in the hallway. He burst out laughing. "Ok this is just not working out."
"Well it's interesting." Her eyes twinkled as he set her down and she hooked a finger in the loops of his pants and pulled him into the bedroom, kissing him as he kicked the door closed.
A couple hours after Parker got a call from Eliot, she started to get fidgety. She wanted to see why leola was throwing the dinner in the first place and besides, she wanted to hang out with Leola. She grabbed her bag and started heading over.
Leola laid there happily beside Eliot once again, her hands trailing softly on his chest. She felt she needed to say something; how she was feeling but she couldn't. She didn't know why but there was no way she could. So instead she took a deep breath. Eliot noticed and frowned.
"Hey what's going on?" he asked, running his fingers through her soft curls.
"Oh nothing. Just mushy at the moment."
He smiled and gave her a nudge. "Come on, I want to hear it."
She looked up and him and turned around so that she was facing him. "I was just thinking as interesting or boring you think my life is, it's much better with you here." She smiled shyly, biting her lip.
He looked at her directly in the eyes and cupped her face leaning in. She had no idea what he was doing but her heart thudded.
"You're right. Its mushy." He whispered. She laughed, turning red in the face. "But I love it. And you're...amazing." he smiled softly before giving her a gentle kiss. It wasn't what he wanted to say but it would to do. For now.
She covered his hand with hers, deepening the kiss. He wrapped his hands around her and pulled her close. Suddenly a loud beeper went off and they froze. "And of course Mr Turkey needs attention, in the midst of things." She grumbled. Eliot chuckled.
"We can continue later." He replied, giving her a wink.
She laughed, picking her clothes up and throwing them back on. "Sounds good. I will be waiting."
She ran out of the room to check on the turkey. He shook his head and fell back on the pillows and sighed. He knew how he felt about her and it was getting serious. But it wasn't time to tell her. He ran a hand over his face and got up, getting dressed him. He was tired and needed sleep but dreams were back.
Heading out, he saw her working furiously at the turkey, juicing him. "Whoa" he blinked his eyes in surprised. It was BIG turkey.
She turned around. "What?" she asked, eyeing his surprised expression.
"Nothing it's just...he's huge. Where'd you find this guy?" he asked, making her laugh.
"This is Mr. Turkey. I found him at the fresh market. I told you he's a big boy."
He nodded. He never thought it would be THAT big. Suddenly there was Parker. "Whatcha doing?" Parker asked, standing there like she was there all along. Eliot jumped. "Dammit Parker, don't you knock!"
Parker gave him a weird look. "What is it with you people? I know how to pick locks. Besides her door was unlocked."
Eliot roiled his eyes and looked over to see Leola amused. She lifted the turkey, groaning as she struggled to get him back in the oven. Eliot stood, arms folded. Parker looked at him incredulously. "Aren't you going to help her?" she asked.
"He's in." he pointed to the oven where Leola shut the door satisfied.
"That's one big turkey." Parker commented. Eliot agreed. "Yeah I told her that not even five minutes ago."
Leola grinned. "So Parker, you're a bit early for dinner, aren't you?" she teased looking at the clock and doing a double take. It was nearly three now. The day kept getting away from her.
Parker clasped her hands together. "Yes well, I thought if you needed any help, I could...you know..." she trailed off, looking at the stove to see everything cooking and on its way. Leola caught the disappointed look but grinned.
"Actually, I have dinner planned but no dessert. Wanna help?"
Parker smiled. "Love too." She squealed and skipped past Eliot.
"Uh you're letting her cook?"
"No just dessert. No you need to shoo." She said, flapping her arms at him. He laughed but didn't move. She glared at him and put her hands on her hips making him frown.
"Wait you're serious?"
She nodded. She gave him a peck on the lips and nudged him to the door. "I sense Parker came to help for some unknown reason. Bye!"
With that she ran back to the kitchen. Eliot shook his head once again and headed out. He guessed he should be used to her random ways by now.
"So" Parker stood there, looking around. "What are we doing?"
Leola walked into the kitchen and scratched her head. "I really don't know." She looked around and grabbed some things from her cupboards.
Parker looked and grinned at the things she pulled out.
"I know we need to make an apple pie and a chocolate cake but..." she trailed off, looking at Parker's excited expression. "What?" she asked.
"The candy. I know what we should do as well. Can we use the candy?" she frowned not sure.
"Yeah of course, I got tons of it for some reason." Parker gave her a great big smile and they got down to work.
Eliot headed over to Hardison's. He had asked Hardison to do a check on this Ned guy who lived across the hall from Leola. Knocking on Hardison's door, he heard him holler for him to come in. Eliot rolled his eyes and walked in. of course, Hardison was at his computer.
"Hey what's up?' Hardison asked, flipping the game off.
"Nothing just wondering if you ran that check on Ned."
Hardison gave him a smug look and turned back to his computer, clacking in the keyboards and bringing up some files. "Yes I did but I did not find anything unusual or wrong."
Eliot frowned and walked over to see the files. "Are you sure? Anything, anything that would tip him off."
Hardison gave him a dirty look. "Dude. When I say I didn't find ANYTHING, it means EVERYTHING is NORMAL." He enunciated, annoying Eliot.
"So it's not a false identity or something. He's actually Ned?" Eliot asked. He still had that feeling about him.
Hardison sighed and checked through again. "Yes this identity dates back to his first job. It looks real man. I mean unless he had someone do this and if that is the case, its REAL good."
Eliot scrolled down and smacked Hardison's hand away as he tried to take control of his keyboard. "Uh not sure if you noticed but uh, this is MY apartment, that's MY keyboard and so that mean I rule" Hardison smacked Eliot's hand and whipped his keyboard away and pushed himself away from the desk.
"Dammit Hardison!" Eliot yelled as his hand got smacked. He turned around to yell but Hardison had his hand up. "
"AH!"
"Har-"
"NA!"
"Man wh—"
"No, uh-uh"
Eliot groaned and stayed quiet giving Hardison an absurd look. Hardison just smiled. "That's better. I will keep an eye out if you want but seriously, there is nothing hinky in his records and if this is just an identity, it's REALLY good."
Eliot thought about that. "Well can you check with other hackers in the areas' see who can make such an identity?"
You know that I am like the best right?" Hardison asked, giving Eliot an arrogant look.
"Rigghhht. Anybody else then. Unless it was you that made the identity." Eliot glared at him.
Hardison frowned. "Good point. I will look around. Happy?"
"Yes finally. Thanks." Eliot got up to leave and Hardison had another question. "Is Leola serious about that dinner thing? Or is it a prank?"
Eliot laughed. "It's definitely not a prank and don't eat because the turkey she got is HUGE."
"Right. Ok then." Hardison whirled around to his computer again, his game coming up on the screen.
"You better not miss it." Eliot threatened as he walked out.
"I'll be there at 6"
Eliot shook his head. Hardison got on his nerves a lot lately. Whether it was from lack of sleep or this Ned guy who kept popping up, his patience was running thin.
"Hey Nate! It's time to go." Sophie walked into Nate's wondering if he had already left.
"In here!" Nate called out from the living room. Sophie sighed. Of course he hadn't left yet.
She walked in to see him in the same clothes as this morning. "Nate, what are you doing? Its five and We have to be there in about forty five minutes."
"I'm not going." Nate replied, taking a drink from his cup.
Sophie sighed and sat down on the chair. "And why are you not going?" she asked.
He just shrugged. "Why not? Everyone else will be there."
"You do know that Eliot made it clear that it was crucial not to miss this dinner right?" Sophie asked, recalling how serious Eliot sounded on the phone. Nate just looked at her. She stayed quiet for a moment. "You know Nate...I know you think that dinners are not a big thing but how long have we known Leola for?"
"My guess would be around five or six months."
"Right. Well...do you think that maybe by making this dinner is a way of her saying she appreciates our friendships?" she looked at him but he gave nothing away. She was going at this the wrong way. "Ok then well what about the rest of us? Hm? You brought us to together to help good people and steal from the rich. You made us that team. You made us family Nate. Are you really not going to the dinner that symbolizes that?"
Nate hesitated before drinking from his cup and sighed. "If this dinner is really so special to Leola and the rest of you, I suppose I can make It." he gave her a long look and smiled. "Let me grab a shower."
Sophie smiled at him, glad that he was going. Whether he was going just to shut her up or because he thought about what she said didn't really matter to her. She just hoped that Nate could see all the good he has done despite what might have not been able to do.
After Nate showered and dressed nicely, Sophie smiled as Nate held the door open for her and they drove over.
"Hey Parker is the table almost set?" she called out, wrestling with Mr. Turkey.
"Yupp just finished." Parker skipped over happily. "Thanks for letting me help."
"Aw thanks for your help Parker." Leola smiled and gave her a hug. "I'm glad we are friends." She gave her a light squeeze on the arm before heading to change. "Besides I'm pretty sure everyone will like what you made for dessert."
Parker laughed. "I think they will."
Leola stopped and looked Parker over. They were about the same size. "Hey Parker you have no time to go and change and you're covered in flour and butter." Parker looked down at her clothes to see this was true. "Come here. I'm pretty sure I have a dress that will fit nicely on you."
Parker smiled shyly before complying.
Afterwards a knock on the door came and Leola bounced to the door excited. "Hello, hello, hel-"she stopped watching the tense glares between Eliot and Ned.
"Hello Ned nice to see you, Eliot gets your butt in here please honey and Ned, talk to you later, nice seeing you once again but we must go bye!"
She grabbed Eliot's arm and pulled him in and shut the door quickly as she waved. She turned around and smiled, giving Eliot a kiss. "You really should stop picking on the poor guy."
Eliot gave a wry chuckle. "He was coming up the stairs the same time as me. I don't like him and so I let him know. Besides you're mine and I don't like him."
This time she laughed. "Oh the jealous boyfriend? Nice." He gave her a peck on the cheek before shrugging off his leather jacket. She took this moment to a double take at him. His hair was in a pony and he had on a blue button up long sleeved shirt complete with his rugged jeans. She gave him a sideways glance and bit her lip smiling. He turned around.
"What?"
"Oh nothing. You're just sexy that's all." He laughed and walked over and looked her up and down. "You look sexy yourself."
"Why thank you." She laughed as he kissed her, his arms going around her. She quickly pushed him back.
"Parker is here." She looked down the hallway. "Parker! Eliot is here! Come out!" Eliot winced as she yelled by his ear.
"Mind leaving me able to hear?" he asked, shaking his head. She gave him a glare and began down the hallway.
"Come on Parker, you look nice."
Another knock was heard. "Eliot please, go and let them in." Leola called out.
Parker came out looking very sullen. "I want to put on my clothes."
"No you look beautiful." Parker just smoothed the dress. "Ok, we will ask the guys."
Leola grabbed Parker's arm and pulled her to the living room. Leola spied Hardison and smiled. "Hey Hardison. How does Parker look?"
"Why I'm sure she looks fi—"he stopped, turning around. "Wow Parker, you look, uh, you look beautiful."
Parker blushed deep red as Leola grinned. "That's what I thought. You can have the dress. I never wore it and well it's just been sitting there."
Parker looked down at the sleek black little dress she wore. It wasn't fancy but it was enough to say sexy. "Thanks." She smiled at Leola who shrugged.
"You helped with dinner." She put her hands on her hips. "Where are Sophie and Nate?"
Another knock came to the door. "Ah that must be them." Sure enough, Sophie and Nate were standing there. She let them in and took their coats and hung them in the closet.
Sophie smiled and walked over, grabbing a seat at the dinner table. Leola glanced at Nate who gave her a small smile. "Hey Nate thanks."
"Yeah. Well Sophie had me convinced and Eliot threatened to beat anyone who backed out so, I guess I didn't have a choice." He smiled and Leola laughed.
"Yeah I supposed that's true." She said scratching her head.
They all sat down and Eliot took the turkey to the table.
'Whoa! That's a BIG turkey." Hardison eyed the turkey.
"Yes, yes he is. Mr Turkey took a long time to cook." Leola replied.
"Are we supposed eat him? He's huge!" Sophie exclaimed. Even Nate had to laugh. He really was huge.
"Ok let's slice and dice." Eliot spoke, clashing the two knives together. Leola looked at him and then at the rest. "I guess he's cutting the turkey."
They ate a bit of everything; cranberries, mashed potatoes, carrots, mashed turnip, Caesar salad, turkey and dinner rolls.
"Oh my this is excellent! You did this?" Sophie asked and Leola nodded. "I'm used to cooking some big meals. The boys at the group home are never ending pits of hunger."
"Wow this was good thank you." Hardison commented and Eliot agreed. "Yeah thanks."
Leola chuckled. "Oh it isn't over yet." She looked at Parker who began to smile excitedly. "It's time."
She squealed and jumped up, running to the kitchen.
"Wait uh time for what?"
Leola gave Hardison a weird look. "Dessert."
Eliot snickered and Hardison slapped him on the shoulder. Leola got up and helped Parker.
They came back with chocolate fudge cake, jello, cookies, and brownies. The team looked at the desserts with wide eyes and Parker went back into the kitchen as Leola sat down. "Wait there's more?"
Leola nodded, "Its Parker's masterpiece."
Parker came out and the cake was an array of all different colors. It was two layers and covered in rainbow colored frosting. There were smarties rimming the bottom of the cake, cinnamon lips circling above and big sour gumballs at the very top with candy kabobs spring from the cake. There was also a Lego building at one side of the cake and little candy men.
Nate had to laugh; it was impressive. "Well this is definitely the most colourful cake I've seen."
"Like it? Leola and I worked on it all afternoon." Parker was very pleased. "Look. It's the leverage building and there little people are us." she explained pointing to the little candy men and the Lego building.
'Ah that's pretty creative." Nate took a closer look. There was a person on top of the building and one person halfway on the building. On the outside. "What is this?"
Parker grinned. "Leola's surprise remember? That's here halfway and that's me on the building and the rest of you guys are on the ground." She squinted at them. "One day you all will have tried jumping off the building."
"And now it's time to cut the cake." Nate said, trying to distract Parker. The team laughed nervously. Nate cut the cake and everyone had a piece, making Parker extremely happy. Afterwards, they sat chatted up a storm, everyone having a good time. Then they began talking about some of the best thieves.
"no, no, no Hardison. The one who is THE legend is the Ghost." Parker grinned looking at them all mysteriously. Leola's head popped up as she heard the name.
"Oh! I heard about ghost." Sophie joined in. "she supposedly pulled off some of the best heists." Making Parker nod.
"Yeah, didn't she steal something from a corrupt general?" Hardison asked. He only heard vaguely of this Ghost.
Sophie gave Hardison a weird look.
"Yes she did. She is considered to be one of the best. Rumour has it that it was her who stole the general's missing kidney."
Eliot laughed. "Yeah no one ever has seen her supposedly and she could always get in and out without anyone noticing."
Leola didn't say anything but had a rueful smile on her face.
"I would love to meet her one day." Parker mentioned, taking another bite.
"Yeah but didn't she retire or something? No one has heard from her in years." Nate spoke, joining the conversation for the first time.
"True. But any thief would never doubt her existence." Parker replied.
Sophie took one last bite. "Well thanks for dinner Leola. And Parker for dessert. It was nice having everyone together and sitting down." Sophie said, beginning to get up.
"Ah no problem Sophie, I'm so glad you could make it. All of you. It's just my way of saying thanks."
Everyone smiled and nodded. They got up and began carrying the dishes to the kitchen.
"Hey what about turkey?"
"It's Mr. Turkey.' Parker called out. Hardison rolled his eyes.
"Fine. Mr. Turkey." He asked mimicking Parker.
Leola laughed. "Um well if you would like to take the rest of him you can. There is like half of him left."
"Yeah well did you see the size of him? Pfft."
Leola nodded. "Yes that's all I've been hearing all day." She smiled. "Yeah you can take him home Hardison. Just let me put him in a dish."
Leola ripped up the turkey and put the meat into a container for Hardison, as well as lots of dessert. There were a lot of leftovers and if she didn't get them to take some home, she could be eating it for weeks. She gave all of them a dish to take him so that she had only enough leftovers for two days.
'Thanks so much for coming over guys. It meant a lot to me." She smiled as she waved them out.
"You sure you don't want help clearing?" Nate asked, feeling surprisingly happy. He guessed getting together with them was actually a good idea.
"No thanks Nate, I got it. Besides it's a chi thing."
Nate nodded and gave her a quick hug. "Thanks for this." He said, holding up his dish.
She nodded and the rest of the team left. Parker wanted her cake so Leola got her the biggest dish so it would be smushed.
Finally, she sat down on the couch and closed her eyes and sighed. She heard Eliot sigh and drop down beside her. She clasped her hand in his and leaned her head on his shoulder.
"Well that was fun."
Eliot was so tired he didn't have the energy to make a comeback. Leola dreaded cleaning the pots and dishes.
"How about we go to bed? I can clean it up in the morning." Leola asked tiredly.
Eliot smiled down at her before helping her up and they walked to the bedroom together.
Sorry to have kept you waiting. Please review! I would love to hear what you guys think. :)