AN: From here and for the next several chapters the timelines overlap…sorry…not sorry.

Quédate detrás de mí. Si pasa algo, llévate el coche. Conduzca y llame al 911. = Stay behind me. If anything happens take the car. Drive away and call 911.

Sitrep is military shorthand for Situation Report

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CHAPTER 11

Checking In

"So, how'd that happen?" Eliot gave Hardison's, now human shaped, ears a pointed look as he set bowls of oatmeal on the table.

"Like you don't know." Hardison groused.

"Your ears weren't wolfy when we left." Parker took a tentative taste of the oatmeal.

"I tried to shift just my fingernails to claws and things got a little out of hand. I thought I'd got everything back to hu…norm… the right shape but I guess I missed the ears. I hadn't felt them change so I guess I didn't think to check on them." Hardison sounded a little depressed.

"Actually, that's pretty good control. So you started the shift on purpose and stopped it before you completed the change and then you reversed it. Minus the ears that's pretty damn good man." Eliot looked again at the slightly mangled sausage and opened his mouth to ask but at the look on Hardison's face he closed his mouth and decided he could live without that answer.

"Was it just to see if you could?" Parker was proud of Hardison trying to do wolfy things on his own. She was also jealous, but she tried to squash that feeling before it got loose in the pack bonds.

Eliot could feel Parker's chokehold on the bonds and whatever she was doing it was effective enough that he couldn't feel what she was feeling but her face told him what was missing. The longing and jealousy that flitted across her face was as clear as writing.

"No. Not exactly." Hardison looked embarrassed and then annoyed. "How can there not be a single knife in this whole place?!"

Eliot looked at the sausage wrapper in the trash can and the pieces clicked together. He reached up into one of the cupboards and brought down a very small toolbox. Lifting the lid he tilted it so that Hardison could see the collection of knives inside. "I don't leave the knives here with the rest of the kitchen gear because they're really high-quality knives and there isn't a lock on the door. I keep 'em in here because it makes it easy to move them."

Hardison remembered talking with Eliot about security after he'd first shown them the cabin, but Eliot had been insistent about leaving it the way it was. Small cabins like this had traditionally been used for hunting but also as emergency shelter for wayward travelers or lost hikers. Something about the unspoken hospitality seemed to appeal to Eliot. And thinking back Hardison had noticed that there were some things Eliot always brought with them when they came and didn't leave in the cabin for later. He'd just never noticed that the knives were one of those things.

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To Parker and Hardison's delight Eliot had no werewolf games planned for the rest of the day. He played a little on an old guitar he kept in a corner of the cabin and started early on what looked like a huge meal prep.

Parker and Hardison poured over the information coming in from all of Hardison's programs. Years ago, Eliot had refused, point blank, to allow any sort of security system to be installed on his houseboat. "I am the security system!" Now Hardison was bitterly regretting that decision as he had no way at all to tell if Hawthorn was actually on the houseboat or not, and how many men he might have with him.

Parker moved from her perch on the back of the couch near Hardison to the seat at the far end. He'd kept readjusting his shoulder or general position and he kept bumping her and she found it distracting.

Hardison was sure of four men in the suburban when he'd been snatched but he couldn't remember if one of them was Hawthorn or not. He'd been panicked and hadn't been able to process the faces he had seen, and he wasn't sure he'd seen all of their faces. So it could be Hawthorn and three men or maybe four or… Well, he hadn't figured out a good way to tell how many guys Hawthorn had with him.

Hardison had turned and put his feet up on the couch and in his restlessness, he was tapping a toe against Parker's side. "Alright! That's it, get up! We're going outside, come on." Parker set her tablet to the side and glared at Hardison.

"What?" Hardison looked confused.

"You're as restless as a bird in a cage." Eliot had noticed the fidgeting too. "Parker's right you should get outside and do something." He looked at the stack of wood near the hearth with inspiration. "You could split some more wood and then maybe you and Parker could go for a walk or something."

"Really? You want me to use your axe?" Hardison remembered Eliot getting growly the last time he'd stood too close to the woodpile let alone even looked at the axe. Not that manual labor of that sort was something that Hardison ever sought out on his own anyway.

"Just do your best not to chop off a finger or somethin'." Eliot went back to his meal prep.

He ended up with no more than splinters and he and Parker had stacked a tidy pile of wood near the hearth and one near the door outside the cabin. Hardison was still feeling pretty energized and decided to go for a walk as suggested.

Instead of walking down the driveway Parker nudged him to follow the trail he'd made running under the zip line. A fresh layer of snow squeaked under their boots as they tromped their way down the hill.

"I'm glad you're not still mad at me." Hardison took Parker's hand when they came to a spot that was wide enough for them to walk side by side.

Parker looked at him with chagrin. "Uhmm."

He quirked a smile at her and thumped a knuckle against his chest. "I can feel you guys now. It's still a little freaky but I'm getting the hang of it."

"I'm…" She bit her lip for a second and looked away. "I'm sorry."

"Girl, you got nothin' to be sorry for." He wrapped an arm across her shoulders. "It's okay if you're mad at me sometimes." They walked a little farther and she leaned into his side.

"I know that the last few days have been a lot. And I know you're happy that I made the change but you're trying hard not to be jealous because this is something you've wanted for a while." He kissed the top of her head.

"Is it as cool as I think it would be?" She looked up at him.

"Kinda, but mostly it's been scary." He sighed. He didn't want to sound ungrateful, but it had been a lot to get used to all at once. "It hurts more than I thought it would. Eliot changes so fast and it never looks like it bothers him but… And it always feels like I'm right on the edge of losing control. No wonder Eliot's always so cranky."

"You really aren't happy?"

"No, I am. I would do it all again if it meant I got more time with you."

"I'm so glad you're here." She kissed his cheek. "Is there anything you do like about being a wolfy?"

He turned and picked her up quickly making her shriek with surprise and excitement. "I can't get over how light you are in my arms. I could carry you around like this forever maybe." He nuzzled her hair. "Eliot's right that your perfume stinks but you smell amazing! I always liked the way you smelled but now with werewolf senses it's so much more…well more." He nuzzled her hair and kissed her ear. "The connection between you and me; it's different than what I've got with Eliot and the others. I feel them. It's like knowing that Nate and Sophie are in the other room. I don't feel every little thing that they do but I know they're there. With Eliot it's different too. I get a lot of what he's feeling but something in me, the wolf I guess, is listening for what he wants me to do. It's kinda strange. I don't want to be given orders but at the same time it's like that's what I'm waiting for and I wish he'd just tell me what to do so I wouldn't have to wonder about what he wants." He couldn't help the scowl on his face but smiled when Parker smoothed it away with her fingertips. "My new connection to you though. That's maybe my favorite thing about being a werewolf." She kissed him and he felt the urge to take it further but remembered what Eliot had said. He could feel that Parker wanted to take it further as well and he wasn't sure how to get out of the situation without hurting her feelings.

"I like our new connection too." She smiled and bit her lip. "Come build a snowman with me!" She wriggled and he set her on her feet.

Hardison laughed and followed her lead. Parker's snowman quickly turned into a giant snow wolf and Hardison got several pictures of them with their snowy creation before he noticed how cold Parker was getting. "We better head back and get you warmed up." He draped his scarf around her neck as they walked back up the hill toward the cabin.

As the day melted into very early evening Eliot and Hardison both became more restless. Finally in the very early evening none of them could stand it anymore.

"Okay, I think it's time for all the wolfys to go outside. There just isn't enough room in here for you two being …whatever it is you're being…" Parker made a frustrated hand gesture at them.

Eliot snorted but raised an eyebrow at Hardison who'd taken to pacing in front of the fireplace. "You're right. Let's get this show on the road." He caught Hardison's eye and tilted his head toward the door. "We'll be back in the morning but if you need us," he tapped his chest "you let us know." He leaned across the back of the couch and kissed her forehead before he hurried out the door with a skip in his step.

Parker breathed a sigh of relief as the excited turbulent feeling left the cabin with the boys. Checking the time, she knew it was at least half an hour to moonrise, but she could feel them shifting already. She tamped down her jealousy and picked up the book she'd been reading. Eliot and then Hardison sent something soothing through the bonds and she knew she hadn't gotten a hold on her emotions before they'd noticed.

She'd made it most of the way through the next chapter in her book when she heard the howling in the distance. Checking the time, she smiled, she couldn't see it out her window, but she knew that the moon had risen. She tried to focus on her book, but she was feeling a little restless herself. She pulled a practice lock out of her bag and started working on it absentmindedly. She set the lock to the side and tried to read again. For a little bit she got lost in the story and was able to distract herself from what was going on outside the cabin.

The boys had been enjoying the cold weather and the full moon for a while, when they came across the scent of prey. She didn't think Hardison was doing it on purpose, but he was broadcasting what he was experiencing and her whole being seemed caught in the spell. She could feel the wild beat of his heart and the excitement as they picked up the scent of something. The air was biting cold but felt good as it rippled through his fur and the taste of it was amazing! The snow was…

BEEP…BEEP…BEEP

Parker jerked back to the reality of the cabin and the alarm sounding on Hardison's tablet. She scooped it up and turned off the alarm as she logged into it. The alarm was for the brew pub. The cameras were motion activated and always recorded when any movement was detected but that wouldn't normally set off the alarm. When she pulled up the program it showed a still frame of David Hawthorn with a flashing red 'Intruder Alert' next to the photo. Hardison had tied the cameras into his facial recognition program. Parker would have just recorded it and left it as something they could deal with in the morning, but Hawthorn wasn't alone.

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Julio had tried to ignore the urge to check in on Eliot and his people and see how things had worked out, but it was a bit like playing whack-a-mole. Every time he thought he'd put the idea behind him it would pop up again.

"Babe, you've got that look again." Chrissa observed. "Why don't you just go over there and check on him." She'd been watching him push the fries around on his plate while his mind was obviously elsewhere. It had been a busy day and they hadn't had a chance to eat lunch earlier. It was extremely late for lunch and maybe should be considered dinner depending on how you looked at things.

"I told him I wouldn't ask what happened and I won't. He said he call if he needed anything." He saw her roll her eyes and he snorted. "What?"

"When I tell you 'Julio, I don't want you going down that dark alley just because you think a homeless vet might need your help.' You say" she lowered her voice in an impression of him. "'Isn't that what army buddies are for?'"

Her impression of him, made him laugh. "That is true."

"So, most of the vets you help you've never met before, but Eliot really was one of your old army buddies, even if he did take a hard path." She reached across their small table and gripped his hand. "Just go check on him."

Standing up from the table he kissed her cheek before taking what was left of his plate of lunch to the trashcan. "I'll just run by and see if he needs anything. It won't take long."

Julio was surprised that the brew pub was closed in the middle of the week, and it worried him that things might not be going well. He drove around to the back and stared out the window at the graffiti on the back wall. Julio hadn't been a part of Special Forces, but he recognized the crudely drawn symbol under the red circle with the line through it. He wasn't sure if Eliot had been a part of Special Forces either, but he'd been part of something covert, so maybe. Regardless, someone was making a not-so-subtle statement. He didn't see anyone around when he got out of his car and went to the back door. One buzzer was labeled 'For Deliveries' the other three weren't labeled at all. Julio tried them all and knocked on both of the doors that were on the loading dock. When no one came he decided to head home but he knew he'd check in again.

"So how was he? Everything okay?" Chrissa kissed Julio's cheek as he came in.

"Looked like no one was there." He frowned as he hung up his coat.

"But….?" Obviously, something was weighing on him.

"Someone painted something on the back wall of the pub." Julio bit his lip.

"Something? Like graffiti or tagging?"

"Not exactly. It was a really bad drawing of a symbol for Special Forces and then they put a red circle with a line through it, like a 'no smoking' sign, over top of the Special Forces symbol."

"Was Eliot in Special Forces?"

"I don't know."

"You know, we've got that gallon of paint left over from the project last week…" She gathered up their coats.

Julio smiled as he followed her down to the storage closet to collect up painting supplies. It wasn't quite dark yet, but he knew it wouldn't be long. They'd end up finishing this project by the light of his car's headlights no doubt.

With a roller brush the job was going pretty quickly. He wasn't sure if the paint would freeze before it had a chance to dry and if it did that, he wasn't sure if it would mess up the paint but either way at least it would cover up the graffiti for now. There was just a little left to do when he heard the crunch of tires at the mouth of the alley behind him. Glancing at his watch he could see that it was just a little before eight. Maybe Eliot and his people were just getting home. He heard the doors on the vehicle open and close and he turned to see why they hadn't driven all the way to the loading dock. Two men were walking toward him and Chrissa. By the way they moved and where they were keeping their hands, he was sure they had weapons under their coats. "Chrissa." Julio waved her over to him. She saw the worried look on his face and looked where he was looking. She didn't notice what Julio had, but she felt unsettled and moved to his side. Julio pushed her just a little behind him. "Can we help you with something gentlemen?" Julio spoke loudly enough that he was sure they heard him. To Chrissa he whispered; "Quédate detrás de mí. Si pasa algo, llévate el coche. Conduzca y llame al 911." Chrissa's eyes went round, and she clung to the sleeve of his coat.

The two men had split up: one coming from the right and the other on the left. "What are you doing here?" the one on the left asked.

"Just helping out a friend." Julio kept his hands visible and didn't move.

"What's your friend's name?" the man on the right asked.

"Eliot." Julio wasn't sure if it was a good idea to give Eliot's name or not, but he didn't want to get caught in a lie either.

When the man on the left got closer the streetlight caused the clear plastic of his earwig to glow, so it wasn't a surprise when he reached for his neck and said something quietly. Julio was sure it was a sitrep for whoever was listening.

"We were just leaving." Julio looked from one to the other.

"My boss would like you to stay." The man on the right used a crate as a step and hopped up onto the loading dock.