AN: Cariña = Sweety or sweetheart

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CHAPTER 15

Getting it Together

They ran across the bridge from Hayden Island to the river shore on the northern edge of Portland. As they neared the other side Hardison recognized the area. They weren't too far from Parker's warehouse. At the end of the bridge Eliot turned left and for a moment Hardison thought that Eliot was taking them to Parker's warehouse. Something about that felt wrong. Hardison slowed and without questioning how he knew it he was certain that Eliot was taking them back to the brew pub. But Parker wasn't at the brew pub. She was a little North and a lot farther West from where he was right now. Her note had told them she'd gone to Portland, but she hadn't told them where in Portland. Like a compass finding North he was certain that Parker wasn't at the pub.

Hardison was torn he wanted to follow Eliot, but he needed to find Parker. Eliot must have noticed that he hadn't followed because he turned back to look at him. Hardison could feel the tug of his Alpha's will, but his mate was in the other direction. Eliot growled at him, but Hardison didn't want to go that way. Eliot threw his head back and howled. With the sound came a roll of power that washed through Hardison. He dropped to his belly and tilted his head, exposing his throat in submission. He could feel Eliot's frustration and what he supposed was Eliot's wolf's insult at not being obeyed. But Hardison couldn't follow, and he had to fight his own wolf's instincts to stop himself from moving in that direction.

Eliot came closer and for just a second Hardison was afraid of what might happen next. He thought the fear might be more from his wolf, because he hadn't truly been scared of Eliot in years, but the feeling was too close to be sure. For a second, he caught a scent that he supposed was his own fear, but the wind pulled it away. As the wind blew past Eliot he stopped and tilted his head as if he was considering the situation. Hardison knew then that it was Eliot in control and that he was safe. He whined but still refused to get up. Eliot came close and Hardison could feel his will in the bonds shift, so he stood but couldn't make himself look Eliot in the eye. His own wolf was still too close to the surface and the wolf instincts were too strong to ignore completely. Eliot bit down on Hardison's muzzle with a gentle pressure that seemed to communicate chastisement and forgiveness. When Eliot let go, Hardison let his wolf find comfort in leaning into Eliot's side.

Eliot turned to the left again and waited. Hardison didn't understand how the bonds worked but he knew that Eliot and Parker had talked about sending emotions and energy through the bonds, so he knew there had to be a way for him to communicate that way too. He closed his eyes and pictured data traveling from the CPU to the hard drive and internally he felt a shift. It was suddenly like the first time he'd hacked his school's network or that time he'd hacked the banking system of Iceland. The bonds became something he could access, something that he could really use. He pushed the idea of Parker and the sure knowledge that she was not at the pub across the bonds to Eliot in a massive data dump.

Eliot staggered to the side like he'd been pushed but he caught his balance. With a sneeze he came back to Hardison and returned the earlier shoulder bump. He tossed his head to gesture Hardison forward making it clear that he would follow.

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Parker woke to the sound of a growl and a thump on the sliding door. As she sat up, she accidentally tipped Hardison's tablet and the too-bright-for-this-time-of-night lock screen informed her that it was just after three in the morning. The thump on the door this time rocked the van.

"I'm coming Sparky. Just hold on a second." She felt her way to the sliding side door and pulled it open. "H…" Whatever she was going to say was cut off as she was shoved back to the floor.

Eliot, in his massive wolf shape, was looming over her. He had a low rumble of a growl going and it could almost have been mistaken for a purr if it wasn't for the anger radiating from him.

She started to squirm up to a sitting position, but he used his nose to push her back and more or less snuffled all over her. "I'm fine! I'm not hurt!" She protested and tried to push his head away.

He growled a little louder and set a paw on her belly. He locked eyes with her, and the growl died away.

"I'm sorry. Okay? I realized after I got to the pub that I shouldn't have come without you." She held his gaze for another second and relaxed. She knew he wouldn't hurt her. Her own logic and the bonds confirmed that he was just ticked that she'd run off and could have gotten hurt or worse trying to do this on her own. She'd scared him and that wasn't something that happened often. "Eliot, I'm sorry."

He gave her a quick lick to her cheek and then stepped to the side.

"Yuck!" She wiped her face on the sleeve of her sweater as she sat up.

Hardison stepped into the van and nuzzled against her for a second and she wrapped her arms around his neck.

The wind picked up for just a second and blew a gust of icy air mixed with snow into the van.

With a squeak Parker lunged for the door and pulled it closed.

She could feel how tired the boys were and she knew they still had several hours before they could shift back to their human shapes. "Here, I brought you food." She leaned past Eliot and drug over the bag she'd loaded with food. "Once I got to the pub, I knew I couldn't do this without you guys. So, I got food and supplies I thought we might need, and I came here. I installed a micro cam in the window of each room and a couple of the mini microphones then I came back to the van to wait for you." She pulled the tops off of two containers of lunch meat while she talked. Next, she pulled out a resealable bag that had a package of hamburger in it. She looked at the package for a moment while she figured out how she would divide it. With no kitchen tools to hand she shrugged and reached into the bag. She divided the meat one handful at a time into the lunch meat containers. At the end she pushed one container to each wolf. "Can you hand me a wet wipe?" She held her sticky hand to the side. "I guess you can't." Before she could get up Hardison started to lick her hand clean, and Eliot nosed the container of wipes off of the shelf so that they landed within her reach.

After they'd licked the containers clean Hardison lay down and Parker spread his quilt over top of him. She kissed the broad expanse between his ears before she turned to Eliot. "I'm sorry I scared you but I'm really glad you came."

He nuzzled against her for a moment before he lay down closer to the door so that he would be between them and the outside world.

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Chrissa knew she'd drifted off when her head rolled off of Julio's shoulder. She had thought she'd be too scared to sleep but apparently her prayers for peace in this situation had been answered at least for now. She sat up a little straighter and scooted a little closer to Julio. She felt their guard take a fresh interest in her and she looked up to see him assessing her.

"You could lay down and put your head in my lap." Julio offered as he ran his hand down the back of her head and gave the back of her neck a gentle squeeze.

She looked at his face and cringed to see the swelling purple mark on his cheek. Her fingers hovered over the spot, but she was afraid to touch it in case it hurt him. He put his hand over hers and held her hand to his jaw instead.

"No, I think I'll sit with you for a while." She tried to smile at him but the worry over their situation crept its way in.

He nodded and kissed her forehead.

"Was that really Eliot in that video?" She had liked Julio's friend. "He was so good with the boys at Thanksgiving and his friends showing up at the last minute to help. I don't think you can have good friends like that if…" She thought of how patient he'd been with the culinary students and how good he was with the homeless people that came to the soup kitchen. She didn't want to think of him as a monster.

"If? If he's killed people?" Julio ducked his head down to catch her eyes and gave her hand a squeeze. "Cariña, I've killed people. That's what soldiers do… when they have to." His eyes shifted to the guard to see if he was going to make a point of his 'English Only' rule or not.

"But that wasn't the same." She felt sure that there was a difference. The law distinguished between self-defense and murder, didn't it?

"I think we don't know the whole story, and even if we did, it's not our place to judge." He held their clasped hands up and kissed her knuckles.

"How touching." Hawthorn's voice broke their moment as he came in the room. "However, I'd say it is my place to judge since it was my brother that he killed."

Chrissa squeezed Julio's hand as she watched Hawthorn stride into the room like a big cat. She noticed that he'd changed clothes and she wondered what time it was. The sky outside the window had lightened but she wouldn't quite say it was dawn just yet.

"Let's talk. I need to know where else I might find Mr. Spencer or his associates." Hawthorn relaxed in the desk chair.

"I don't know."

Chrissa could feel Julio stiffen next to her and she scooted away from him by a fraction so that she wouldn't slow him down if he made a sudden move. He squeezed her hand in acknowledgement.

"How well do you know Mr. Spencer?"

"Not very well."

"You stopped by his residence. It looked as though you were looking for him and then you returned with paint to fix up his wall." The last part of Hawthorns words were mockingly sentimental.

Julio shrugged.

"I think you know him better than you're letting on." Hawthorn gestured and one of his men that was near the door stepped forward with a file. Hawthorn flipped lazily through the file and pulled out a sheet. "Looks like you two went through boot together and then your unit served in the Middle East for two tours. You received a Bronze Star and were honorably discharged shortly after."

"So? There were a lot of men in my unit."

Hawthorn reached into the file and pulled out a photo that showed Julio, Eliot, and a few others making a show of smoking cigars and holding up beer cans in a toast. He let that picture fall to the floor and pulled out another that showed Julio posing with Eliot in front of a tank that had been damaged in battle. That picture too, fell to the floor. There was a third picture that showed Eliot asleep at a table in the mess and Julio making bunny ears behind him. That picture dropped to the floor and a newer one was pulled from the file. This one showed Eliot standing next to Julio serving food at the soup kitchen here in Portland. Hawthorn crumpled that picture before tossing it to the side. Another picture, Eliot hugging Chrissa, was crumpled and tossed.

"I think you know Mr. Spencer very well, and I think you could get a hold of him if you really wanted to." Hawthorn leaned forward steepling his fingers before clenching his hands into fists. "Tell me what I want to know."

"I'm sorry your brother was killed and I'm sorry that it was Eliot that killed him, but these acts of vengeance won't bring your brother back. You are just hurting more people by doing this. What do you expect to get out of this? Do you think you'll sleep better at night once you've punished Eliot or after you've killed him? Do you think…" The guard that had hit Julio before stepped forward and hit him again.

Chrissa gasped and clutched at Julio to keep him from falling to the floor. "What was that for?"

"Tell Mr. Hawthorn what he wants to know." The guard stepped back.

Julio touched his fingers to his cheek and hissed. His fingertips came away red with his own blood.

"How do I get in touch with Eliot Spencer?" Hawthorn leaned back in his chair again.

Julio glared at Hawthorn.

Chrissa was watching Julio and Hawthorn and didn't see the man that came up behind her. She yelped in surprise when she felt fingers tangle in her hair and yank her up off of the bench. She could see something shiny in her peripheral vision and she thought it might be a knife, but she couldn't be sure.

Julio started to get up but the guard that had hit him drew a gun and motioned him to sit.

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Eliot woke with a tingling sensation under his skin. The sun must be nearly up, and he would be able to shift. He looked over and saw Hardison and Parker snuggled under the quilt asleep. He wished he could let them sleep but the sight of them sleeping on the floor of the van was reminder enough that they needed to finish this thing with Hawthorn.

He got up onto four paws and stretched with his tail brushing the ceiling of the van. With a shake to settle fur and muscle he closed his eyes and started his shift. At first it was so slow he was afraid that he'd started too soon and that despite the glow of dawn through the windshield of the van, maybe the sun was still below the horizon. But just as he was about to give up, he felt the shiver of the change start and watched as the fur on his forepaws retracted into the skin with a stinging sensation. He pushed for speed, squinched his eyes closed and focused on his breathing. He did his best to ignore the shivery sensation in his skin and the painful twisting feeling in his bones. Fortunately, this shift didn't last long and in only a moment or two he was naked and human shaped, in the mostly dark confines of Lucille.

Stepping over Hardison's legs and Parker's bunny Eliot made it to the go bag he had in the back of the van. He dressed quickly but couldn't find his spare boots. The sound of his rummaging the shelves looking for his boots woke Hardison who stretched on his side, tongue lolling. Parker felt Hardison move, and she rolled to a sitting position with his quilt wrapped around her shoulders.

"hhhm…What? What's going on?" Parker blinked owlishly.

"It's okay. It's just me." Eliot shoved a few more things around but still couldn't find his boots. "Parker, do you know what happened to my spare boots?"

"Uhm yah." She pointed at one of the go bags she'd brought from her raid on the pub.

"Thanks." Eliot dug through the bag and fished out his shoes. "Hardison, come on man, it's time to be human."

Hardison yawned hugely and stretched. He kept his eyes on Parker and concentrated on what he wanted to say to her and how it would feel to hold her in his arms. The shift rolled over him and within a few breaths he was human shaped, on his hands and knees. Parker draped the quilt over him and kissed his cheek.

"So, what's the plan?" Hardison pulled the quilt around himself as he sat up.

"Eliot will be the distraction and you and I will steal the Mendozas." Parker handed Hardison a bag that had his clothes.

"Aren't I usually in charge of distractions?"

"Yah, but Hawthorn thinks you're dead, and I want to keep it that way." Eliot growled.