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Prompt #35: Nicholas - "You're a devious little angel, aren't you?" he asked her after the Vatican CSI had cleared out.

Words: 781

"You okay?" Hardison asked when he saw Parker wince again.

"Yeah, just a little sore," said the blonde thief, rubbing her lower back with another twinge of pain. "I think I twisted wrong when I was pulling Santa out that window."

"He's not - " Hardison rolled his eyes. "I told you not to do that, Parker. You really ought to listen to me sometimes."

She gave him a stern look of Don't even go there. Then for good measure she said, "Coming from the guy who can't rappel down a building."

"That was one time, woman. I'm a hacker, not a damn mountain climber." It was a weak retort, and they both knew it. Even with such a short time of knowing each other, the hacker and the thief had begun to learn how to read each other.

Hardison knew when he was beat, so he switched the conversation up. "And another thing, St. Nicholas isn't Santa Claus."

"Then why's he got the same name?" she fired back.

"Because Santa's based on St. Nick." Hoping to leave it at that, Hardison turned to dig out some orange soda from the fridge.

Bad move. "Tell me more," Parker demanded, slamming her shoulder against the other door and giving Hardison her very serious face.

Having dug his own pit, Hardison closed the door of the fridge and faced Parker fully. "You really wanna know?" She nodded vigorously. "Okay, don't interrupt and don't pester, and I'll tell you. All right?" Another series of vigorous nods. Hardison glanced around to make sure they were alone before speaking again.

"Okay, well, there was this kid named Nicholas, right? He lived in the same village as this dude and this three daughters. Now the family was dirt-broke, meaning the girls probably wouldn't get married and have to sell themselves for money. And because the dude was so proud, he wouldn't accept any type of charity. With me so far?"

Parker nodded, wide-eyed as a child hearing a bedtime story.

"Well, see, that didn't jive with Nicholas. But he was too modest to help him directly, so he got some gold from a guy who had too much and, under cover of night, tossed three bags of gold inside the poor dude's house, one for each daughter."

Her rapid blinking showed her confusion. "Wait, that's it?"

Hardison nodded. "Yeah Parker, that's it."

"There has to be more."

"Nope. He just dropped the gold and booked it before anyone knew he was there." A smile touched his mouth. "You know, it's kinda like what we do. We help people and they don't even know it was us sometimes." Parker still looked confused, so the hacker took a breath to speak again. "When you're in a jam, who do you pray to?"

"Nobody," was her prompt reply. "I can get myself out of my own jams."

Hardison gave her a small smile. "Try it sometime. Try praying to St. Nicholas."

"Why? It can't help."

He shrugged. "Can't hurt."

Four years later...

"Parker, get out of there!" Hardison yelled over the comms. "Parker!"

He could hear her swearing as she tried to escape. Alarms kept blasting as he tried to open the doors to guide her to freedom, but Hardison could only do so much in so little time.

Something was coming over the comm. Straining to listen, Hardison could hear Parker mumbling something under her breath at motormouth speeds. Before he could ask her what she was saying, one of the protocols he'd set activated, shutting off the laser grid that blocked an exit. He guided her out, and they made their speedy retreat.

It wasn't until they were catching their breath at McRory's later that Hardison finally asked, "Parker, what were you mumbling?"

She looked over at him with expectant eyes. "Praying."

His eyes widened, not at her answer, but at how easily she admitted it. "Excuse me?"

"You said it couldn't hurt, so I tried it. And it worked." The thief's smile was almost blinding. "Prayed that you'd get me out, and St. Nick heard me." She kissed his cheek softly. "Thank you, Alec."

His smile was soft and a little lopsided from his goofy feeling of Jeez, how does she remember this crap? "You're welcome, Parker."

Got really cute here. Awww!

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