Disclaimer: I don't own Leverage.
Prompt #37: Nana - When his foster mother called, Parker was the one who picked up the phone.
Words: 965
When Hardison's cell phone rang, Parker was the closest one to it. So she immediately reached over and grabbed it to answer. "Yeah, whaddya want?"
"Is Alec there?"
Parker could gather four bits of information from this answer. One, the caller was an older female. Two, she talked like Hardison. Three, she sounded tough as nails. And four, she seemed completely all right with an unknown woman answering Hardison's phone.
That meant it could only be... "Are you Hardison's Nana?"
A hearty laugh blasted through the speaker, forcing Parker to hold it at arm's length to avoid going deaf. "You must be that girl he always brags about. Parker, right?"
Rarely does anything surprise Parker, but the fact that Hardison had told his Nana about her was a shock worthy of striking oil in an iceblock. Shock made her polite. "Yes ma'am."
"Ugh, don't call me ma'am, girl. It makes me sound old," scolded the older woman. "Call me Nana, for god's sake."
"Okay...Nana." The name sounded almost foreign as it slipped through her teeth, but for some reason, Parker found herself liking it immensely. "Hardi - Alec talks about you too," she said.
Another hearty chuckle. "Bet he talks about I used to smack him senseless for that business in Iceland, little whelp."
Parker knew he'd hacked Iceland's banks once upon a time, but she didn't know specifics. Apparently he'd done it for his Nana. "Actually, he says you're the best foster mom he could have ever had. And even though you'd cuss like a sailor and tan his ass so much as look at him, you loved him and the other kids like they were your own."
Silence. For a second, Parker thought she'd said something wrong again. But when Nana laughed loudest at this declaration, Parker was actually more confused than before. "He did say you had a different way about you," said Nana.
"Different?" Parker repeated, unsure of how to take that.
"Honest. True. Better than anything he ever had in the system." A different note entered the woman's voice. "But I can tell you know what that's about."
Parker's eyes widened slightly. "You can tell?"
"Seen as many kids in it, helped as many as I have, you can learn to tell who's been in by how they talk," was the reply. "But I always tried to raise them right. Alec was one of the best, if you can believe that."
"I believe you." A landmark moment for Parker; she could trust this unknown woman.
Nana spoke again, sounding sure. "You do care about my boy, don't you."
"Yes Nana."
"You've seen the kind of man he is."
Parker smiled as her mind cycled through her memories of Hardison. "Yes Nana."
"You love him, girl?"
The old Parker would have sputtered, said she didn't understand, and hung up. But Parker had grown up in the four years of knowing the team - and Hardison. There was no hesitation in her voice now. "Yes Nana, very much."
"Good," said the hacker's foster mother, pride and gratitude evident in her tone. "He needs that, Alec does. Always been alone, even when surrounded by people. Nice to know he's decided to let someone inside them firewalls he's put up around his heart."
"I think it's more the other way around," Parker said. "He's taught me to let people in."
"Learned that from me. Good to know he's put it to practice."
Parker laughed, then noticed Hardison walking into the room. Dressed in cargo pants and a dark tee, a damp towel was draped over his shoulders was the only evidence that he'd been in the shower. "Who you talkin' to, Parker?"
"It's your Nana," the blonde thief replied brightly.
The look on Hardison's face went from confused to panicky in less than two seconds. In a feat of speed that only Eliot was normally capable of doing, he crossed the room, snatched the phone from her hand, and bolted for his bedroom. "Hi Nana!" he said brightly as he slammed the door shut.
Parker smiled wide and went to the air vent. Popping off the cover took mere moments, and soon she was shimmying through the ventilation shaft to eavesdrop on Hardison's conversation.
"Nana, it's just - no, that's not - no Nana! Never!" he sputtered, sounding embarrassed by whatever she was saying. "She's my - no, no Nana, she's not, it's not that simple! I mean, yeah, I want her to be, but Parker's Parker, and I love her like that. I don't want her to change for me."
His words made that familiar glow start up in Parker's heart again. She recognized affection now, and her smile grew soft.
"Um, no, that's - " Hardison sounded very, very concerned and not a little worried. "Nana, no, you don't have to come here, that's not - "
Forgetting where she was, Parker popped off the vent cover and poked her head out, hanging from her knees to hang like a bat. "Yes! Come visit!" she said in a loud voice so that Nana could hear her. "Come to Boston!"
To meet Hardison's Nana in person! Parker couldn't let that opportunity slide.
I hope they decide to bring Hardison's Nana on the show. That'll be a ton of fun to see how the team handles her!
Review please!