A/N: the song is by Miranda Lambert, called "House That Built Me". I do not own it though I did tweak the lyrics a bit to better fit Claire.

Chapter Thirteen: Freedom

The next morning, Eliot and Nate met with Mr. Speedman and Kip one last time. They handed them the deed and the keys to Henderson's much larger restaurant and officially turned Speedy's Barbecue back over to the family that truly deserved it. Mr. Speedman was ecstatic and Kip was very grateful. His father's health had been an issue since he lost the restaurant and Kip firmly believed his weakened health was a direct result of depression. They also gave Mr. Speedman a good percentage of a pay out Hardison had managed to snatch from Henderson's accounts.

They also gave some of Henderson's money to Claire's family to help with their now damaged house and business. The rest they gave to Henderson's wife and daughter to help them start a new life without their jailer. Claire had insisted on being present for that visit. It was good she was too, the little girl didn't really understand what was going on and Claire had handled her perfectly. She knew just what to say to get through to the little girl who didn't quite understand that her father had treated her any different than anyone else's father. It was all she knew, so wasn't it the same for everyone else? It was a question that had stumped Nate and given Eliot pause. He wasn't quite sure how to address it. But Claire…Claire understood.

"This means, you only have to smile when you feel like it, little one," Claire told her gently. "And you won't have to cover up bruises anymore. In fact, the next time you get a bruise it'll be because you fell on the playground or hit your funny bone." Claire smiled and winked at the girl before she softly and playfully poked her side. The girl giggled and wiggled away. "It means, the only time you have to pretend to be someone else is when you're in those pageants you're so good at."

The little girl beamed at her and then gave her mother a hesitant look. "Is that true, mommy?"

Mrs. Henderson sniffed and smiled warmly at her daughter. "Yes, baby."

The little girl considered that for a moment and then threw herself at Claire with a huge hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

For someone who'd ever really been around children all that much, Eliot thought, she was extremely good at relating to them. The little girl had hugged Claire for the longest time before she and her mother left. As the pair walked away Claire turned with a bright watery smile and wrapped her arms around Eliot. He returned the hug and kissed the top of her head. She didn't say anything but he knew that, of all of Henderson's victims, his wife and daughter were the ones that had gotten under her skin the most. Helping them had taken a huge weight off of her shoulders. He could see how much lighter she felt.

But handing over the restaurant to Kip and his dad and finally putting Henderson away, meant there wasn't much else for any of them to do except enjoy the first official day of the Festival.

Parker dragged Hardison off in the direction of the funnel cakes, Nate and Sophie went to go look at the handcrafted items for sale at various tents, and Eliot and Claire headed toward the grandstand for the music. To their surprise Kip was on stage and the minute he saw Claire approach he called her up to join him.

Claire headed toward the stage but this time she wasn't content to let Eliot stand in the crowd. She made him stand under the tent with the sound equipment and the technicians. At least she hadn't tried to make him play or sing with her, he thought with a sigh of relief. He was surprised that she and Kip actually performed a couple of original pieces. They'd written a handful of songs together before Eliot and his crew arrived. It turned out and both songs they played were amazing. When that was done, Claire and Eliot walked further down the street to the car show. Claire had saved that for last. All the muscle car buffs in the area brought their cars to show off at the far end of the festival. They parked in the local bank parking lot and stood by their cars, eager to brag.

Eliot had started detailed conversations with nearly every owner in the place. He smiled more in public than she'd seen in a while. He smiled at her quite frequently but with others she didn't see much of his smile. So, she treasured it every time, even if she understood none of what he was saying. They'd spent nearly an hour and a half talking to the men at the car show. Eliot was practically giddy.

Claire chuckled as they walked down the Festival route hand in hand. "Having fun?" she asked.

"You didn't tell me about the car show," Eliot said as he craned his neck to look back at the cars one last time.

She laughed lightly at his awe before she spoke. "I wanted it to be a surprise."

"This isn't really what I expected from a Barbecue Festival," Eliot told her honestly. "I mean yes, there's barbecue but beyond that it's more like…"

"A fair?" she asked knowingly.

"Yes! Exactly. There's rides on the other end for the kids, hand crafted merchandise for sale, pottery, funnel cakes, and," he stopped and glanced down at the guide he swiped earlier. "Am I reading this right? Pig races?"

"You read that right," Claire told him. "They set up a course on the other end across from the rides. They number the pigs, and the pigs race through the course."

"Okay, that clenches it, I love your home town," Eliot admitted.

Claire laughed and sighed contentedly. "Me too. I've missed it." She caught sight of her uncle and her aunt manning the sound equipment at the smaller stage, dubbed the "local stage" in the guide Eliot had, and pointed discretely. "I've missed my uncle too." Everette and Ada kissed across the sound equipment, for no other reason than they wanted to, and Eliot had to admit her family seemed near perfect. "It's going to be hard to leave," she admitted. "Especially now that I know Ada and the kids."

"Well," Eliot said hesitantly. He knew offering this meant delaying her coming back to Boston with him. "Then give yourself a little more time with them. You don't have to leave right away."

"True, I guess. I'm just afraid to stay in one place for too long," she said honestly. "I'm afraid of who or what might find me if I do, and I've been here for over a month as it is."

"Well, what if I stay with you?" Eliot asked her. "Nate will give us a break for at least two weeks before the next job. I can stay here with you and you can show me more of the town. Plus, if anyone shows up who's not supposed to be here then I'll promptly show them the town line."

She chuckled and released his hand to loop her arm through his. "I'd appreciate that, but…let me think about it," she told him. "I'll admit the idea is tempting."

"You haven't seen your family in years, Claire," he said as he rested a hand on top of hers as it rested on the crook of his arm. "No one would blame you for wanting to spend as much time as possible with them."

"I'm not worried about me," she admitted. "I'm worried about them. I haven't exactly been good luck for them so far."

"That's not true," Eliot corrected her. "Without you, Henderson would still be running this town and he would eventually have put your uncle out of business. You showing up now was actually very lucky."

"I suppose," she said reluctantly as she smiled softly at him and then rested her head on his shoulder as they walked. It struck him, suddenly, just how much they resembled a normal couple in this moment. He'd been allowed very little normalcy lately so this moment of quiet was really wonderful. It almost made him wish that this pretend life they'd built here, could be his reality.

As they passed the Local Stage, Everette took the microphone.

"Where you going, girl?" He called as he pointed to Claire in the crowd. She looked over at the stage and rolled her eyes.

"Am I supposed to be somewhere?" She yelled over the small crown surrounding the Local Stage.

"Yeah, up here, performing," Everette answered.

She gave her uncle an exasperated look. "I didn't sign up for a set."

"You didn't have to," Everette told her. "I did, and I'm demanding that my niece come up here and play just one of her songs. You performed two on the Grandstand with Kip. Just one here on the Local Stage should be easy after that."

Claire realized he was right and she wouldn't be getting out of it. She shook her head with an amused smile and then walked toward the stage. She took Eliot with her again and made him stand with Ava at the sound board.

Claire held out her hand to borrow Everette's guitar and he immediately handed it over. She put the strap around her and then cleared her throat nervously as she stood behind the microphone.

"So, I do have this one song…" she told him.

The small crowd that had gathered clapped encouragingly.

"It's been a long time since I've been home and before I showed up on Uncle Ev's door step about a month ago I worried that when I finally made it home, he wouldn't be there," she said as she started to introduce the song. "I imagined another family was living in the house I called home for so many years and making new memories. And then I imagined what I would say if I went home and someone else was living in my family's house. Naturally, I had to turn it into a song. So, here we go, this song is called 'House That Built Me'. Hope yall like it."

Eliot saw Nate and Sophie join the crowd and then as the musical intro started Hardison and Parker appeared. Eliot then turned his attention back to Claire. The song was slow and haunting. How she managed to express that just by playing an acoustic guitar was a mystery to him.

"I know they say you can't go home again.
I just had to come back one last time.
Ma'am, I know you don't know me from Adam.
But these hand prints on the front steps are mine.
Up those stairs, in that little back bedroom
Is where I did my homework and I learned to play guitar.
And I bet you didn't know, under that live oak,
My favorite dog is buried in the yard.

I thought if I could touch this place or feel it,
This brokenness inside me might start healing.
Out here it's like I'm someone else,
I thought that maybe I could find myself.
If I could just come in I swear I'll leave.
Won't take nothing but a memory
From the house that built me.

Grandma cut out pictures of houses for years.
From 'Better Homes and Garden' magazines.
Plans were drawn, and concrete poured,
And nail by nail and board by board
Grandpa gave life to Grandma's dream.

I thought if I could touch this place or feel it
This brokenness inside me might start healing.
Out here it's like I'm someone else,
I thought that maybe I could find myself.
If I could just come in I swear I'll leave.
Won't take nothing but a memory
From the house that built me.

You leave home, you move on and you do the best you can.
I got lost in this old world and forgot who I am.

I thought if I could touch this place or feel it
This brokenness inside me might start healing.
Out here it's like I'm someone else,
I thought that maybe I could find myself.
If I could walk around I swear I'll leave.
Won't take nothing but a memory
From the house that, built me."

During the second verse, Claire's voice broke just slightly. The emotions she sang in the song were raw and real and he could hear her pain when she sang about her grandparents that she'd never get to see again. Everette reached out and placed a hand on his niece's shoulder for support as she continued the song. Eliot felt his throat tightening and a brief pain in his chest as he watched her. What was that? Sadness on her behalf? Pride that she'd managed to express it and express it so damn well? Or was it a wish to fix it all for her? A wish that he could bring back her grandparents just to give her some closure or a wish that seeing her home again might help her find the girl who got lost all those years ago? He decided it was all of it. He was feeling all of those things. More than that, he was blown away by her voice and her talent. The crowd in front of the stage had doubled since she'd started singing. People were drawn to her. Her voice was hypnotic and haunting and beautiful. There was so much soul and heartbreak in her tone. It was hard to ignore.

When the song was over the crowd roared. Including, Eliot noticed, Nate, Sophie, Parker and, surprisingly, Hardison. Claire bowed briefly before she handed the guitar back to her uncle and then made her way to Eliot.

"Now, that I have embarrassed myself," she said with a self-deprecating grin. "Let's get out of here."

"You didn't embarrass yourself," Eliot assured her. "And where would we go?"

She pulled out her phone and showed Eliot a text from Kip. "Kip's throwing a party out at his place. He just sent out a mass text. Looks like he invited everyone he knows."

They descended the stage and Eliot led her toward his crew.

Claire smiled awkwardly at them. She wasn't sure what to think of them hearing such an emotional performance from her.

Hardison cleared his throat and nodded in her direction. Careful not to show too much emotion. "You did good up there, Arm Candy."

Her eyes widened in surprise. "Thanks. So," she said as she addressed the group. "Any of you ever been to a small town throw down?"

"A what-what?" Sophie asked with a furrowed brow and a disgusted face.

Claire chuckled. "A party, country style."

"No, I most certainly have not," Sophie said with a smirk.

"Kip's throwing one in about twenty minutes." She held up her phone with her text messages displayed. "He told me to invite you guys." Everyone but Eliot looked wary of the situation. Claire laughed and continued. "There's free beer."

"Oh, well why didn't you just say so in the first place?" Hardison asked. "Where's this party?"

"On Kip's land. The back acreage where he has no neighbors," Claire told them.

"It's possible to have absolutely no neighbors around here?" Parker asked.

"Definitely," Claire answered. "Kip's land is the furthest from any neighbors at all though. That's why he always hosts the throw downs."

"How many of those has he had in the month you've been here?" Eliot asked curiously. She seemed to know an awful lot about them.

"He has one or two a week," she answered with a shrug. "They're usually pretty good fun."

Claire's interpretation of 'pretty good fun' was an understatement, Eliot could tell. Claire had a wild streak, he'd known it the minute he met her. She defied everyone in Moreau's crew that should have scared her, and he'd seen her down far too many shots than a person her size should physically be able to. And that was when she was much too thin, in his opinion. He remembered wondering then how a girl of Nineteen had built up such an impressive alcohol tolerance. She'd never explained but he had a feeling Claire's teenage years were no where near as innocent as his had been. Though, his weren't as innocent as they should have been either, he admitted.

"Pretty good fun as in that night I snuck you out of that hotel in Sydney and you proceeded to dance on the bar or pretty good fun like that night in Ibiza where you some how forgot your shirt in the bathroom?" Eliot asked her with a grin and pointed look.

She laughed without shame and gave him a thoughtful look. "More like Sydney than Ibiza but both were enjoyable. Unfortunately, throw downs don't normally involve Crown or else they might lean more toward Ibiza. I can't promise I won't eventually lose my shirt, though," she said as she tossed a wink at him.

He chuckled and shook his head. God, she was a mess.

"So, who's in?" She asked the group.

"Sorry, not me. All I want is a glass of wine and to get these heels off of my feet," Sophie said with an apologetic smile. All eyes then turned to Nate.

"Oh, um I would, but I don't want to," he said quickly and briskly.

"Fair enough," Claire said as she gave him an amused look and then turned to Parker and Hardison. "What about you two?"

"I'm in," Parker said immediately. "Lots of people, not paying attention to me, with lots of pockets. Should be fun."

"If she's in then I'm in," Hardison agreed.

"Great," Claire said with a nod. "You guys can ride with us."

"How? The cab of your truck would fit three people at most," Hardison said in confusion.

"You can ride in the back," Claire said as she flipped her hair over her shoulder and breezed past him.

"The back? You mean the truck bed?" Hardison asked as he trailed behind her. "Oh hell no."

This was going to be interesting, Eliot thought. Hardison at a party out in the true country was a sight Eliot never thought he'd see. Should he take pictures for black mail?

Probably, he thought with a smirk.