A/N: Hello, everyone! So, who's ready to find out what Parker and Eliot were doing in Nate's bed?
Disclaimer: Ellie has been figuring out where the latches are on her crate and has learned that if she kicks at one of them, it might eventually open. We have come to the conclusion that she is part velociraptor.
"Hey, Eliot, can you help me with something?"
The sound of Parker's voice had Eliot Spencer stopping on his way out. Getting the super tuber back for Emily Marigold had been a relatively easy mission, all things considered, but the agricultural element of the job had Eliot wanting to get back home to check on his own garden before the produce was ruined.
"Can it wait, Parker?"
"Maybe," Parker hedged, "but you might not think so."
A roll of his eyes was followed by Eliot taking his jacket off and tossing it onto the conference table. "This better not take long. I got tomatoes to harvest. What do you need?"
"Does this look bad?" Whirling around, Parker whipped her shirt off and threw it in the vague direction of the desk.
Eliot's eyes nearly popped out of his head, but not because Parker was now topless. She did that for practically every other job they worked and he'd seen her in various states of dress and undress to no longer be surprised by naked thief.
What did have his eyes bugging out, however, was the raw redness that was Parker's back.
"Parker, why didn't you say anything earlier?" demanded Eliot as he crossed the room to examine her back more closely. While her lower back looked little worse than a moderate sunburn, her upper back, shoulders, and arms were practically glowing in the dim, yellow lighting of Nate's apartment, raised blisters catching the light and dappling her skin. "What happened?"
"I guess I was a little closer to that explosion in the vault than I thought I was," Parker answered.
"How bad does it hurt on a scale of one to ten?" asked Eliot, his eyes roving over every inch of inflamed skin.
"I don't know. Not too bad but it is a little uncomfortable."
"How much of you got burned?" When he got to the waistband of Parker's pants, Eliot saw that the irritation did not stop at her clothes.
"It hurts when I sit but that's about it," was the unhelpful answer.
"Take your pants off." Parker obeyed, boots tossed into the kitchen and pants dropping onto the floor. Just as Eliot expected, Parker's thighs and lower legs were just as red as her back. "Yeah, we gotta go ahead and treat this. Go upstairs to the bathroom by Nate's room and turn on the shower, but don't get in just yet. I'll meet you there in a minute."
Without a response, Parker trotted toward the staircase and bounced up the steps. Eliot, meanwhile, went to the kitchen to scrounge for the first aid kit he'd stashed in there years ago, shortly after the team reconvened here in Boston. When he got upstairs, Eliot heard the shower running and Parker humming. "You're not in the shower, are you?"
"No, you told me not to."
Well, that was a refreshing change of pace. Entering the bathroom, Eliot found Parker leaning against the counter, examining her own back in the mirror. "It's not nearly as bad as it could be," Eliot said by way of announcement. He stuck his hand in the shower, hissing and jerking his hand back when he felt the temperature. "It's a real good thing you decided to listen to me this time, darlin'. With how hot you got this water, you'da scalded yourself and possibly done even more damage."
"Well, all you said was turn on the shower," Parker defended her actions. "You didn't say how hot or cold."
"I know, I wasn't fussin' atcha." Turning the hot knob until it was nearly off, Eliot adjusted the water temperature to just above cold. "Alright, come here and just stand under the water for a few minutes. We gotta get your skin cooled down so we can treat it properly."
Seconds later, a completely naked Parker pulled at the shower curtain and brushed by Eliot to step into the tub. "Ahh, that feels so good!"
As she bathed, Eliot took the opportunity to better examine the extent of the burn damage. Thankfully, the skin from Parker's lower back all the way to her knees was only mildly irritated. Her calves were not quite as red as her upper back, and her feet were entirely unscathed.
"Do I need to use soap?"
"Let me do that for you. I don't want you scrubbing at your burns." Leaving Parker to her shower, Eliot rifled through the cabinets and drawers until he found a loofah that, going by the bright pink color, Sophie must have left there at some point. "Hand me the soap." Taking the proffered soap, Eliot lathered up the loofah and gently dabbed at Parker's shoulders.
"Sss!" she hissed at the contact.
"Sorry, darlin', but I gotta clean it. Don't worry, I'm just gonna use this on your shoulders. The water can run the soap down the rest of your body and clean the other burns."
True to his word, Eliot only attended to Parker's shoulders before tossing the offending object over his shoulder into the marble sink. "Alright, that should take care of that. Just stand there a few more minutes, I'm gonna go find'ya a towel."
"Kay," Parker sighed. Her slumped shoulders betrayed just how worn out she felt.
"You're doin' good, Parker," Eliot assured her. He reached into the shower and turned the water off before handing Parker the towel he'd found. "We'll letcha lie down in just a minute, and I'll put some cream on those burns."
Parker paused in drying off and stared at Eliot, brows furrowed. "All of them?"
"All of'em. You don't wanna run any risk of infection. That means all of'em."
"Even the burns on my butt?"
"Yes, Parker, those burns too. Hurry up and get dried off. We don't want you gettin' Nate's sheets soakin' wet."
"You're gonna get my back, right?"
"Yeah, don't worry about your back. Just get your front and go lie down."
"Kay. By the way, your shirt's all wet."
Glancing down, Eliot saw that his shirt was, indeed, drenched. "Good thing I didn't bother changing earlier," he groused as he unbuttoned the shirt. "How do people even wear this color?"
"You'll have to ask Sophie that one. The only color I like wearing is black."
"Makes sense. Go on to Nate's room and let's get these treated." The hitter let the thief exit the bathroom first, depositing the stolen shirt on the banister as they went. When they were in Nate's room, Eliot shut the door and locked it behind him.
"What was that for?"
"In case someone comes back. I don't want anyone bargin' in here before we're done treatin' those burns."
"You do know I've had much worse burns than these before, right? I got along just fine."
"That don't mean you gotta do it now. You asked me to take a look at'em, right?" He got a nod. "Then that means you're worried about'em and you want'em to heal up right. So let me treat'em so they will."
The apparent softness of Eliot's voice and the earnestness in his eyes had Parker relenting to his instruction, and she laid herself face down on Nate's bed. "Alright, some of this might hurt a bit, but for the more minor burns, it should feel pretty good," said Eliot as he came to the bed and sat down by Parker's hips. "I'm just gonna start with your arms and work my way down, that alright?"
"Yeah, go ahead. They itch."
"This'll help that, too." After snapping on a pair of latex gloves, Eliot squeezed some burn cream from a tube he'd stored in the first aid kit onto his fingertips and lightly dabbed it on the back of Parker's left arm.
"Ohh," she flinched, "that's cold."
"Yeah, that happens when you put aloe on a burn," Eliot explained rather patiently, he thought. "I'm not hurtin' ya, am I?"
"Not yet."
"You let me know when I am, got it?" An affirmative hum from Parker, and Eliot continued administering the burn cream. Right arm followed left, and then he proceeded to her shoulders.
"Ahh!" Parker gasped when Eliot's gloved fingers touched the base of her neck.
"I'm sorry, darlin'. I'll be as quick as I can." And Eliot increased the speed of his ministrations as much as he could without hurting Parker more. Though he must not have been completely successful, because she still couldn't contain a few more gasps and groans. "There, done with the worst of'em."
"Whew," sighed Parker once Eliot had gotten past her shoulders and moved on to her lower back, "that's much better." Downward Eliot's hands continued until he reached her hamstrings, just under the swell of her backside. "No, not right there."
"Yes, right there," Eliot retorted as he proceeded to apply lotion to Parker's legs.
"No, that spot's awkward and hard to get to."
"That's exactly why I need to get that spot, Parker," the hitter growled, though his voice wasn't as gruff as usual.
Parker started squirming, pushing herself up and trying to move her knees up under her.
"No, don't sit up. Lie back down. You asked me for this, so I'm gonna do it right. I'm not gonna have you come whinin' to me tomorrow about you hurtin' cause you wouldn't let me do my job properly."
Huff. "Fine." Parker's knees moved back down until her legs were outstretched, then flung her arms out, letting herself flop back onto the mattress. Her face scrunched into a wince as the movement jostled her burned skin. Eliot just shook his head as he knelt on the bed next to her and proceeded to treat her legs. "Ahh. So much better."
"Aren't you glad I got that spot now?"
A content, "Mhm" answered Eliot's question.
The doorknob rattled, as though someone were trying to open the door, before the pair heard a set of knuckles rapping against the wood. "Uh, Eliot, Parker? What's going on?" sounded Nate's voice from outside.
"Hold on, Nate." This time, Eliot used his usual growl. "Let me finish with Parker here and we'll be right down."
"Okay." That was all the thieves heard before two pairs of feet tramped toward the stairs.
"Glad you locked the door," Parker said.
"I told you, I didn't want anyone interruptin' us."
"Think that was Sophie with Nate?"
"Prob'ly. If it was Hardison, we'd have heard him complainin' and tryin' to barge in."
"True. Now hurry up, I'm tired of being still."
"You've only been lying here for ten minutes," Eliot groused, but he did as he was told. Just a few minutes later, Eliot had slathered cream over Parker's calves and was pulling the gloves off his hands. "Done. Feelin' any better now?"
"Yes, thank you, Eliot!" shouted Parker as she launched herself up, only to stumble back onto her hands.
"Would you quit doin' that?" demanded Eliot from the closet, where he found a light blue silk robe. "Here, put this on. Your clothes are too tight and they'll rub against your skin."
"What about when I leave?"
"What about it? Just wear it home and bring it back later." Once he was sure Parker had the robe on, Eliot opened the door.
"Then we came downstairs," concluded Eliot.
"So that's what that was all about," moaned Sophie as her head dropped to the table, just barely cushioned by her arms.
"Why? What else would we be doing?" asked Parker, tactful as ever.
"Well, when we came in the door, all we heard was a few, well, gasps and moans," Nate explained.
"And the clothes scattered about the flat didn't help matters either," added Sophie.
"So?"
"They thought we were havin' sex, Parker," said Eliot as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
"We wouldn't do that in your bed," Parker assured Nate, though Eliot wasn't all that sure that Nate was all that assured.
"Thank you, Parker," the mastermind said anyway. "That's nice to know."
"Maybe in the guest bed, but not your bed. That's just rude." The abrupt words sparked the other three to sputter on their drinks, and Eliot coughed as his coffee burned his tongue.
"Okay, Parker, I think it's time to take you home." Eliot returned the half-drunk brew to the kitchen before herding Parker out the door.
"But what about our clothes? They're still all over the apartment."
"We can get'em later. Right now, I think we've traumatized Sophie and Nate enough for one night."
"Night, guys! See you tomorrow!" The door shut behind the younger pair.
"Why'd you have to say that, Parker?" Eliot could be heard grumbling down the hall. "Now they're gonna think we've been hookin' up in Nate's guest room."
"Oh, like you haven't thought about it before," Parker answered, leaving Nate and Sophie in stunned silence.
"It's a really good thing Hardison already went home," said Nate as he knocked back the rest of his whiskey.
"Yes." Both their eyes turned toward the stairs for a moment. "You want to stay at my flat for the night?"
"How about for the rest of the week?"
"Sounds good to me." The couple shot to their feet and proceeded out the door, not even stopping to pack a bag for Nate. He could always come back and change in the morning.
A/N: If you look closely at Parker's clothes at the end of the episode, the back of her stolen jacket is very singed. So, was that anything like you thought they might be doing? And some of you may be wondering where Hardison is in all this mess. We'll find out soon where Hardison is in all this mess. Thanks for reading, and don't forget to review!