A/N: So many broken hearts! I almost feel bad for you all, almost ;) I'm gonna fix it, you know I am! In the meantime, I thank you all for sticking with me, reviewing, and being fabulous reader peops even now.
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1.)
Chapter 26
Eliot couldn't see anything, he couldn't hear anything. Everything was a blur as he stood in the middle of the street, for the first time in a long time, genuinely not knowing where to go or what to do. Hardison knew what he wanted to do though, he wanted to ask questions until Eliot's ears bled.
"What the heck is goin' on, man?" the hacker asked loudly, "Where'd Parker go? Why'd she run off like that? And who the hell is that woman in the bar?"
"Dammit, Hardison!" his friend exploded, letting out all his anger at the last guy who really deserved it, "It's not..." he shook his head, fingers pushed back into his hair and wanting to pull it out with the frustration of it all.
He had to calm down. Freaking out wasn't going to help, and if he was going to find Parker there was a good chance Hardison would be more help than hindrance. Taking a deep breath, he fought to find that calm centre he kept buried deep inside and pulled Hardison over to where passers-by wouldn't pay so much mind to them.
"That woman in the bar, you don't recognise her?" he checked, though he doubted his team-mate got much of a look, "That's Crystal"
It was the way he said it more than the name alone that caught Hardison's attention.
"C-Crystal?" he stammered out, looking genuinely freaked out, "As is crazy psycho woman, thought she was gonna marry you and have Eliot babies after like one date?" he double-checked, "Oh yeah, I remember Crystal" he nodded, looking back over his shoulder fast as if he expected her to have appeared, possibly armed and dangerous.
Eliot was glad Hardison remembered the woman he was talking about. It made it that much easier to explain what was going on here, and wouldn't result in the hacker thinking he was the cheating asshole that Parker probably had him marked down as right now.
"I thought we got rid of that crazy-ass woman" said Hardison, as he and Eliot began striding back towards McRorys, purely to see if she was still there, "Didn't I fake you a trip to Yemen for that very reason? Like six months ago?"
"Seven" Eliot confirmed with a curt nod, "Like a week before Parker told me she was pregnant. Crystal called since then..." he confirmed, stepping back out of view when he realised the red-head he spoke of was still sat on the bar, swinging her legs back and fourth like a kid despite the fact she was forty if she was a day.
"She called? And you didn't tell Parker?" Hardison checked.
"Seriously?" his friend responded with a look, "Yeah, I'm gonna tell a highly volatile, emotionally unstable, pregnant and hormonal thief with a tendency towards stabbing guys, that a girl I slept with once is hanging around tryin' to make me her damn husband!"
"Okay, okay, I get it" the hacker made a calming gesture though it did little good, and he understood why given the circumstances, "Look, I'll go get Little Miss Looney Tunes out of the bar, you go see if you can tell which way Parker ran, then you and me, we'll figure this out"
Eliot nodded along though he was barely listening. This whole thing couldn't have happened at a worse time, what with Parker so heavily pregnant and emotional. He hadn't meant for things to get this messed. When Crystal called again, out of the blue, after he thought he got rid of her for the second time, he figured he could go meet her at the bar, far away from Parker, and sever the connection for good. It hadn't been easy to come up with an excuse to get rid of her, but he figured terminal and contagious disease oughta do it. The woman wasn't exactly straight in the head, she'd more than likely believe it. Unfortunately, he hadn't gotten more than three words into his explanation when she threw herself at him, and crazy people seemed to have a hell of a grip. Next think he knew there was an audience bearing witness to his moment of shame, and poor Parker naturally thought the worst and bolted like she always did.
It was a relief at least when Crystal came running out of the bar, practically screaming, and wouldn't even look at Eliot as she leapt into the nearest cab which tore off down the street like greased lightning.
"She gone" Hardison grinned from the doorway, gesturing for Eliot to come inside, "Don't ask me what I said to her, it's safer you don't know" he added, just as soon as the hitter opened his mouth to ask, "Fact is, she gone, she won't be back, and we got more important things to do"
Eliot nodded in agreement and followed the hacker inside. He was right in what he said, priority one now was figuring out where Parker had gone and bringing her home. Given how good she was at both running and hiding, he couldn't imagine for a moment it would be easy, but Eliot was certain he would find her and he would make it right, if it was the last thing he did.
Sophie hadn't realised how long she'd been walking until the sun peeked over the Boston skyline. It must have been hours since she bolted from McRorys like a stroppy teenager. It had not been Sophie Devereaux's finest hour, that was for sure, but once it was done she just couldn't bring herself to head back and apologise or anything. She was sorry for the way she behaved, she knew she was wrong, but seeing Maggie there in McRorys, on her turf for lack of a better way of phrasing it, and just when she and Nate were finally figuring things out, it had been too much to bear.
It wasn't that she didn't like Nate's ex wife. On the contrary, she was a fine woman, and the two of them got along well enough. The problem was that Sophie knew if Maggie was in trouble she would call for Nate and he would come running. That only proved what a good man he was, but sometimes Sophie just wanted to be selfish and know that her man was her own, and hers alone. It was childish and unfair, she was entirely aware of that, but she just couldn't help it.
Hours after running out of the bar, the grifter knew she should go home. She had avoided that place as much as anywhere else, partly because she didn't really want to deal with Nate if he had chased her down, but more than that, because she feared he wouldn't have bothered, and didn't want to know if it were true. Now she was tired, her shoes had beyond killed her feet, and she just wanted to go and hide under the bedclothes until she stopped feeling quite so stupid.
Stepping out of the elevator on the correct floor, she was hunting in her purse for her key as she approached her own apartment. It came as quite the surprise when she glanced up and realised that she couldn't actually reach the door since a person was already sat right there in front of it.
"Nate?" she gasped with surprise, "How long have...?"
"How long have I been sitting here?" he asked for her when words seemed to fail her for one of the first times ever, "Oh, I don't know, six hours maybe?" he offered, "Long enough I'm not sure I can't stand anymore" he realised as he braced himself against the floor and tried, unsuccessfully, to lever himself up.
Sophie wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry as she moved to help pull him to his feet. By the time she had him standing, they were both feeling pretty stupid, and laughing at their own idiocy.
"What are we doing, Nate?" she asked him helplessly.
"I don't know about you but I'm mostly concentrating on getting the feeling back in my legs right now" he joked, perhaps a bad time for humour, but he had no other place to start given the circumstances.
There was no doubt he had done as much thinking as Sophie had in the past few hours sat here on the doorstep. They were both such fools, and they knew it too. Every time they almost got close, to talking it out, to sleeping together, whatever, it always went wrong. One or the other of them seemed to sabotage any attempt they made to move forward together as a couple, and all they ever achieved was making themselves miserable.
"We have to figure this out" said Sophie at length, "Once and for all, because I don't know about you but this... thing between us, this never defined thing" she said as she gestured between them, "it's killing me, Nate"
He nodded in understanding because he felt exactly the same. She had been his crutch before and at other times he had been hers. They were each others support and safety net for a long time, but now things were getting destructive. It wasn't that they went out of their way to hurt each other, but it just seemed to happen by default lately, and it wasn't doing anyone any good.
As they walked into Sophie's apartment then, a silent promise was made. This wasn't about sex, it wasn't about arguing. They weren't going to talk about his drinking, and he wouldn't press for her real name. What they had to do was talk about this relationship of theirs, and more than that, they needed to listen to each other. They wouldn't still be here after all this time if they didn't love each other, it was now time at last to figure out how they moved forward together. It was now or never, for the very last time.
It had been almost an hour. Eliot's feet were tapping with the urge to hurry away to wherever Parker was from the start, then his hands started beating a rhythm on the table. At this point both his legs were jiggling beneath the table, when he was actually sat down. For the most part he had been pacing, and yelling some at Hardison when he didn't appear to be typing fast enough on his laptop.
They were searching everywhere via technology. Boston was a big city and the more time went on, the further Parker might have travelled. It would be pointless and fruitless to drive around looking for the world's greatest thief, who was well known for her fast and stealthy escape tactics. This way was better, searching everywhere via traffic cameras, CCTV, and the like. Hardison had hacked into everything, at the same time trying comms and Parker's cell. Sure, she would want to avoid Eliot, but they had hoped she would pick up when then hacker called - it didn't happen.
At one point Hardison had Eliot calling for Nate and Sophie, maybe because he thought they might be of use, but more likely because he wanted to give the hitter something to do before he started living up to his title. No answer from the mastermind or the grifter, and so it seemed these two guys were on their own in tracking down Parker.
"This is pointless!" said Eliot, aggravated to the point of jumping up and sending his seat flying back across the room, "I can't believe this is happening! She is eight months pregnant, Hardison. Eight!" he repeated angrily, "Anything could happen to her!"
"I know, man, but it won't" the hacker tried to convince him, "We can track her, we can. I just gotta... Hey! Right here!" he began waving his arm madly, hurrying Elliot over to the computer screen and showing him what he found.
"A truck stop?" said Eliot, looking daggers at the hacker, "Why am I looking at this?"
"Not just any truck stop" his friend told him quickly, "The Sunoco truck stop in Roxbury, that's only like a couple of miles away, and check this out..." he said pointing on the screen.
Eliot watched wide eyed as a heavily pregnant blonde awkwardly hoisted herself into the passenger side of a truck, which drove away with barely a moments pause.
"I'd love to tell ya I got a licence plate or something, but this is just crappy CCTV I hacked into" Hardison shook his head, "Our best shot would be to drive over there, see if we can find out from the folks that work there or something?" he suggested.
"I got a better plan" Eliot shook his head, "I gotta head back to my place and..."
"Nah, man" Hardison cut in, going so far as to get in the hitter's way when he tried to leave, "Seriously" he told his friend when he looked ready to punch him in the face, "You in no state to be drivin' right now, and your truck certainly ain't" he reminded him, "We can go in my car, it's all good" he told him easily.
Eliot nodded in agreement but felt more confused than anything else. He looked back as Hardison darted past him to grab his computer and then moved to the door, preparing to leave.
"Hey, man" the hitter said as he followed a step behind, "Thank you" he said seriously, "but... why you doin' this for me?"
"No big deal" his friend shrugged in response, "I mean, you'd do the same for me if Felicia skipped out, right?" he confirmed as they headed for the car.
"Yeah, you know I would" he nodded his agreement, and Hardison smiled.
"Then we all good, brah" he confirmed, slapping Eliot on the back, "'S what brothers do"
That meant a whole lot to the hitter right now, but his smile about it really didn't last too long. Until they got Parker back, he wasn't so sure he was really going to feel happy again.
It was an unlikely, unusual sight, but Parker wasn't thinking too much about that. She was sure she was the only heavily pregnant passenger in a great big truck driving down the i93, but she just didn't care. All she could think about was Eliot kissing that awful woman in McRorys and how much it hurt inside. When she ran, she hadn't really known where she was going. She was out of breath way too fast and immediately knew she was going to need wheels to get anywhere. She stole a car, not for the first time in her life but definitely for the first time in a few years. The truck stop had been a necessity rather than a choice. Her bladder was pretty much the size of pea the last few weeks and she simply had to go. When Parker came out of the ladies room, the cops were hanging around. She didn't dare wonder why and looked around to find two trucks parked nearby. One had a rough looking man in the driver's seat, the other a much older woman. That was a surprise, but a good thing, Parker considered, as she hurried over and begged for a ride.
It was the first time she ever told the truth to get a ride anywhere, but then there had never been a circumstance quite like this in her whole life. Mary, the truck driver, had taken pity on her and got her the hell out of town, just like Parker wanted. She didn't know where she was headed, but she was on her way there, and right now that was all that mattered.
"How you holdin' up, honey?" asked Mary, as she glanced across at her passenger.
"I don't know" Parker shrugged, "I know I don't wanna cry anymore... except that I do" she contradicted herself as tears streamed down her cheeks one more time, "I hate it!" she yelled crossly, slamming both hands against the dash, "I hate that he made me feel like everything was okay, that he promised nothing was going to go wrong, even when I told him I was sure something would!" she complained, "Men suck!" she declared, and Mary shook her head.
"Oh, honey, I've known my share of awful men in my time" she sighed, adjsting the baseball cap over her grey hair, "I can't argue that on the whole they ain't too smart nor to be trusted in a lot o' cases, but they ain't all bad"
"I didn't think Eliot was bad" said Parker with a sniff, "Other people probably think he seems bad because of his job and everything, but I... I loved him, and I never thought I could feel like that about anybody ever" she cried.
"So you caught him kissing this floozy" Mary recalled from when her young passenger first came aboard, "Did he give ya any kinda excuse?"
"No" Parker shook her head, "I kinda didn't ask... I just ran" she admitted, "Was that wrong?"
"Well" Mary considered, "Ain't my place to say right or wrong" she told her young friend, "but seems to me everybody should get a chance to explain themselves, shouldn't they?" she asked.
She was sure Alice was a sensible young woman. Couldn't imagine it was easy for her being so far gone and all, hormones running wild and crazy, and then catching her man kissing on another woman. Still, seemed to her that a fella ought to be given a chance to explain himself. From experience, Mary had learnt that it was very easy to jumped to the wrong conslucion sometimes, but she wasn't so sure there was a right way to tell this poor child that maybe she was wrong in her decision to bolt.
Just in that moment, the radio crackled and Mary leaned over to fiddle with the controls. Soon enough a voice came clear over the airwaves.
"Breaker 1-9. Breaker 1-9. This is High Wolf" the other driver stated his handle as if he had done it a hundred times before and yet the voice was one Parker recognised and he was no trucker as far as she knew, "I'm taking one more shot at this, I'm looking for a woman" he explained.
"Hey, High Wolf" said another man's voice, "this ain't no dating service" he chuckled, "Though there's some good lookin' concrete blondes around here..."
"This is High Wolf, I'm not looking for just any woman, she's... she's my woman" he explained, "and she's out there somewhere, she's pregnant with my kid and I gotta find her"
"Oh, great" the same male voice replied, "Some pair of bubblegummers chasing each other around the state..."
"Somebody get this ratchetjaw offa here" Mary groaned and rolled her eyes before getting on the CB radio hersef, "High Wolf, this is Prairie Momma, I might have some intel on your missin' lady friend"
Parker's eyes were wide as saucers and she shook her head violently as she realised Mary was about to tell Eliot she was here.
"I'm sorry, honey" she said to the younger woman, as she waited for 'High Wolf' to answer her, "I may be old and rough lookin' these days, but I'm still a romantic at heart. Least you can do is hear the fella out" she suggested.
It seemed like Parker wasn't being given much of a choice.
To Be Continued...
A/N2: Please note, I am NOT a trucker! lol I found a list of CB radio slang via Google, and I don't know how authentic it is, but just lets go with it people and pretend its all okay ;)
A/N3: Bonus Eliot-shaped cookies to those who got the special inside reference in this chapter. Some of you must know what I'm talking about, right?