Previously:
"The job was a setup." Hardison said. Sophie swallowed. They were going to have to tell her sooner or later.
"It was meant to be a hit. On Katie Parker."
OOOOOOOOOOOOO
Parker froze the second the name came out of Sophie's mouth. There was silence for a moment. Parker was still staring wide-eyed at Sophie, still as a statue.
"Is that you? Are you Katie Parker?" Sophie tried. A muscle in Parker's face ticked and Hardison saw she was clenching her jaw. Sophie couldn't get a read on what Parker was feeling "Parker, you can tell us if…" she started out when Parker interrupted, anger in her voice.
"She's dead!" the thief yelled, clenching her fists. She stood before Hardison could stop her and was instantly pounding on the wall with both fists in a fury. "She's dead! Katie Parker is dead! She isn't alive!" Hardison finally managed to pull her away from the wall, but both of her fists were already bloody and he could tell she had torn some of her stitches. Parker collapsed in his arms, her shouts reduced to sobs. "She doesn't exist anymore…she's dead…she's dead…" She was crying into Hardison's shoulder as Sophie and the hacker exchanged glances.
"Do something!" Hardison mouthed silently to Sophie. Sophie nodded. She knelt down next to them, and put a hand on Parker's shoulder.
"Parker?" she said softly. "Parker can you hear me?" Parker's crying started to quiet as Hardison gently rocked her. She sniffed and tilted her face slightly to look at Sophie.
Sophie barely held it together looking at Parker. The girl was utterly broken. She could see it in the thief's eyes. They were tired, and dull, ringed with red and tears.
Parker was in so much pain. Everything was rushing. Her head, her shoulder, her eyes, her thoughts. It all hurt. It was like being in Times Square, she thought as she tried to concentrate on Sophie. A great place for thieves, but Parker had always found it too loud, too bright, too many colors, too many voices, too many smiles and frowns and crying and languages and families and business men. Too many, too much. Rushing rushing rushing. She managed to lock onto Sophie's voice.
"Make it stop." She pleaded to Sophie.
"Okay Parker, it's all alright, I just want you to focus on your breathing, ok? I know it must hurt, but just focus on one breath in and one breath out. One at a time. There you go. Good." Parker's death grip on Hardison's shirt loosened slightly as her breathing calmed. "Think you could move back to the bed, might be more comfortable?" Sophie offered but Parker shook her head violently.
"No. Safer here." Parker said. Sophie nodded, understanding that the bed for Parker felt too exposed right now. Too vulnerable. Better to be huddled in the corner with Hardison and Sophie than in the middle of a room.
"That's fine Parker, we'll just stay here." Sophie sat, and Hardison shifted into a sitting position with Parker in between the two of them. The three of them sat in silence a moment more, while Parker's breathing calmed even more.
"I wasn't supposed to tell."
Parker's strained and quiet voice broke the silence." They said not to ever tell my real name. They said Katie Parker was dead. That I was someone else. But I didn't want to be someone else. I still wanted to be a Parker…And then they left me. They said that they'd be back, but they never came back. They left me…"