Parker was the most prominent thief in America, which was saying something since she was only ten. She had simply smirked at Eliot when he had said he doesn't work with kids, though he had noticed the slight fear in her eyes. Then she had jumped off a roof with a manic 'weeeeeeeeeeeee!', and Eliot said she was 20 pounds of crazy in a five pound bag. Eliot had been studying her over this job, and he couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right about her. Obviously she was insane, everyone in the criminal world knew that. She had first appeared on criminal radar when she had stolen a famous jewel from a museum successfully. The only reason she got caught was because she was two, and her foster parents had found it in her room. She was pretty good at acting like a hurt little kid walking out of the elevator, though she had stiffened when he'd put his hand on her shoulder for the act. Eliot had filed this away for further information.
Hardison liked Parker. She was insane, sure. That was blatantly obvious when she jumped off the building, laughing. Her laughter had been contagious, and she reminded him of some of the lucky kids that came through his nana's house. But he also noticed how she looked at the annoying hitter guy with a bit of fear, which told him something he would rather not dwell on too carefully. Hardison also knew that she was ten, but she was tiny. She looked no older than 6 or 7. He'd read articles about her successful stealing of a jewel protected by multiple safeguards in the middle of a museum during the day, alone. She was two years old when she stole it for god's sake, still in diapers. She had stolen more since then, bigger targets, with even more security. But the jewel was what she was most famous for. He had given her a cheap cell phone to use, just in case, and never bothered asking for it back.
Nate didn't know what to make of the little girl. She didn't act like her son had at all, she was two years older than he had been, sure, but her mind worked out problems faster than some adults he knew. Most kids just wanted to be hugged and whatever, but Parker seemed to avoid any and all physical contact. He had a nagging suspicion of why, but he couldn't afford to get close to her. She was on the opposite side of the war he fought. It's just this job, he thought, and then none of us talk to each other again.
But he was wrong, for once.
Parker had gotten the call from Dubenich to meet at the warehouse. Luckily she had remembered to flip the phone to silent, because her foster father, Charlie, was drunk again and had taken it out on her earlier. She tried to lock the pain away as she changed into the 'good' clothes she kept hidden. It wouldn't be good if Charlie found them, he'd ask questions. And probably start touching her again. She shuddered, she hated when it happened. Parker was always too small to fight back, and she hated it. Usually she just shut down and went to the top of a tall, tall building in her head, and jumped. Parker grabbed Charlie's gun last minute, and walked to the warehouse.
She walked in holding the gun in front of her, remembering to click the safety off. Nate immediately pointed his own gun at her, though his finger was far from the trigger. She narrowed her eyes. "See it's funny, the only way to get all of us in here at once was to tell us we're not getting paid." Nate fell silent and they all started running at once. Parker tripped and fell down the stairs, but the man who always growled, Eliot, grabbed her arm and pulled, not having time to make sure she was able to keep up. And there was no way in hell he was going to pick her up. He hadn't slowed when he felt her shoulder dislocate, but immediately felt a pang of guilt at her quiet hiss of pain. They exited the building and seconds later it exploded.
Parker barely managed to stay conscious as she was thrown forward. Years of training herself had come in handy though, and she was able to slip out of sight as the ambulances pulled up. Eliot stared hard at her but allowed the paramedics to take him after a moment.
Parker hesitated for several moments and weighed her options. Deciding it was worth the risk of Charlie waking up, she followed the ambulance. This was really fun and she didn't want to be left behind on whatever was next. She ignored the throbbing of her shoulder and hid outside the hospital. She straightened up and put her best wide eyed face on, walking up to the desk and talking quickly. "I'm looking for my daddy. He called me and said he was here, he told me not to come but I had to make sure he was okay, please can I see him?" She pleaded. She described Eliot when they asked her to describe him, and they led her to a room. "Mr. Kane, your daughter is here to see you. Said you called her earlier." The doctor walked out of the room, and Parker couldn't hide the small flinch as Eliot leveled her with a glare. Growly man still scared her a bit and the dislocated shoulder hadn't helped. She quickly looked away and handed Nate her phone, then gave Hardison a phone she had stolen off the doctor in the hallway. A few well placed phone calls and a hacked printer later, Hardison was putting all of them in a squad car and driving off. He dropped them off at his apartment before driving around to dump the car off. Parker stayed in the car with
Hardison and he smiled at her.
As they all walked into the apartment, Eliot pulled Parker aside, ignoring the flinch. "This is going to hurt," was the only thing he growled before gently yet firmly pulling her shoulder sideways, and she let out a small cry of pain that the others didn't hear. The sound of bone clicking back into place was familiar to her. She glared at him as she walked away but he still saw the fear she was trying to hide. She would have done it herself eventually, she'd just had more important things on her mind. Like following the ambulance and saving their asses with cell phones.
The rest of the job, their revenge, went relatively well. Parker had been wary of Sophie at first but she was nice enough. Nate trusted her, and Parker trusted Nate the most of anyone on the team, mainly because of the way he didn't look at her like she would break. Eliot was still very growly at all of them, but she was getting used to that. Kind of. Sometimes she had a sneaking suspicion he saw through her acting like a normal kid. She smirked to herself at this, it was a joke to herself. She'd never been a normal kid. She shrank back at the swift kick to her ribs Charlie gave her. "Stop smirking freak, or I'll give you a present," he growled, and Parker tried to hide her shaking at this. She closed her eyes and went to her high up place.
Later that morning, Charlie was passed out with a bottle of booze in his hand and Parker was able to sneak out to the park that the team had texted her to meet at. Glancing at the clock as she walked out, she cursed under her breath. She'd only be a few minutes late if she ran, which she did, ignoring the stabbing pain in her lungs. She slowed as she approached the group standing on the concrete, and Nate handed everyone envelopes. Parker's was a bit smaller and thicker than the rest and she frowned, but decided not to press her luck. It had already been a painful day. Her eyes were impossibly huge when she opened the envelope to see a huge stack of fifty dollar bills. The rest of the team wasn't faring much better, and she backed up half a step when Nate leaned toward her. "Hardison and I put the rest of your payout in a bank account for you under an alias. If you ever need anything from it, you know our numbers. If you need anything, you have our numbers. Understand, Parker?" He said, gently but firmly. She nodded, looking away quickly as her eyes started to get all misty. Nobody had ever said they'd help her before.
"Well, it was a good time, but I gotta go. People to beat up to a pulp and all that," Eliot said.
"Yeah, government servers to hack into." Hardison replied.
The rest said various excuses, but Parker was silent as they all walked in different directions. She hesitated for a moment, but followed Hardison after Nate, and said she was good at one thing, and only one thing. Everyone said they'd like to come back eventually and Nate told them to be on the lookout for a call.
Five months later
It was hard for Parker to keep her phone charged nowadays, she occasionally went to the coffee shop at night for a warm drink and that was where she plugged it in. She had finally run away from Charlie a little under a week ago, packing only a small backpack, clothes, and the money from the con they had run on Dubenich. He had gone too far. The touching had progressed to something worse, and now not even her high mind building could distract her when she was scared, or in a flashback. Parker had occasionally been attacked in the alleys, but it was never bad enough that she couldn't escape after a few kicks or hits or touches. She never slept in the same place unless she hurt too much to move, and always made sure her bruises were covered up. She bought makeup when she couldn't cover them with clothes. Parker knew she could get away with stealing it if she tried hard enough but she didn't have the energy for it most of the time.
She was walking down the street, keeping her pace brisk and purposeful, when a nicely dressed lady walked straight into her. Startled, she looked up and froze: it was Charlie's ex wife. She tried to run but it was too late as she grabbed her arm.
"Oh, I'm sorr- Parker? Parker Wright? Your foster father has been looking everywhere for you! I'm taking you back to him right now."
Parker was helplessly dragged along, knowing it was useless to try and fight. She barely managed to throw her bag onto the roof without anyone seeing. Now she just had her phone in her pocket and she hoped he didn't find it.
The next week passed by in a hazed blur, and Parker didn't speak at all. The social worker had come for a check and hadn't even glanced at her when Charlie handed him a large stack of cash. Just walked right back out. That's why she refused to call Nate or Hardison, Charlie would just write a check and she'd never see the Leverage crew again. She'd jump off a tall building without a harness if that ever happened. They'd done ten cases since the first job all those months ago. A few cases ago, the team was involved in a bank robbery and Parker was grazed on the arm with a bullet. Elliot had stitched it up. The last job had been interesting because they had given her a fake tumor. Parker had been fine until Eliot had picked her up to keep her from ruining the con, then she'd backed into a corner and refused to speak, She'd done well in hiding what was going on at home, though Eliot still always looked at her suspiciously, and Charlie beat her even more when she didn't say who gave her stitches.
Parker was shaking in the corner of the room she was always locked in now. Her filthy mattress had been taken away. Charlie had just finished another round of punishments, he didn't have to give reasons anymore. She wanted to burn all of her skin off in a shower, but he always insisted on being in the room with her when she showered. Parker was wracked with another tremor. Suddenly there was a buzzing from her pocket and she opened the phone. Charlie was passed out, if the quiet was anything to go by, but she still didn't want to risk waking him up so she talked quietly. It took her a second to remember how to make words.
"Hello?"
"Parker! We've been trying to get a hold of you for over a day now, are you ok? Got another case to run, it's in San Diego. Should be pretty straightforward. Think you can find a way to join us for a few days? Make sure your dad believes it, can't risk the con if he's worried," Hardison replied. Parker had to hide a bitter snort. She hoped Charlie wouldn't even know she was gone, best case scenario. Worst case scenario, they'd just have to find another thief.
"I'll be there. Got grounded, sorry I didn't answer I wasn't able to charge my phone. Give me until tomorrow to get a story straightened out," she replied, forcing herself to giggle softly when Hardison said, "You got this, mama," and hung up.
Parker shook her head as she put her phone in her pocket. It was almost dead but she couldn't risk charging it. Hardison was weird, but she liked him. He was probably the nicest to her out of the crew. She didn't understand why he tried to make her be a normal kid sometimes, Parker wasn't good at it. She'd never been with a good foster family, and she sometimes had a suspicion that Hardison knew it. He told her a lot about his Nana, and she often wondered what it was like having a family who cared. Nate was drinking a lot more lately and she had to hide from him sometimes. Instincts were hard to fight. Nate knew he scared her when he drank, which just turned into a cycle where he got even more drunk trying to stop caring.
Parker stood up and started to pick the lock on her window when the door slammed open. She tried to hide what she'd been doing but it was too late and she gulped. The look Charlie had in his eyes was scarier than she'd ever seen and she smelled beer and whiskey mixed in his breath. The next five hours straight, all she knew was pain. By the time he stormed out of the room, not bothering to put his clothes back on, Parker was covered in blood and bruises. It took almost a half hour for her to fight the darkness enough to sit up, and another twenty minutes to grab her pants and shirt and put them on. She didn't bother with the underwear right now, it didn't matter. Parker felt the blood running down her thighs and knew the extra clothes would just weigh her down. She slowly stood up, fighting the grey clouding the edges of her vision. Parker didn't know much about comas or concussions, but she knew that if she closed her eyes he'd come back and then she wouldn't have any control at all. She looked at the tiny screen on the front of her flip phone which told her it was 3:14 am, and the battery light was flashing. She opened the window that she'd managed to pick just before the attack and slipped out slightly louder than she normally would have. The girl briefly considered going to the roof for her bag but she could barely walk let alone climb. She dragged herself step by step to an alley a few blocks away, and knew she couldn't make it any further. She pulled out her phone which told her it had taken over an hour to walk four blocks from where she'd started.
Parker considered her next move carefully. She likely would only get one short phone call. Hardison didn't do well under pressure, and would ask way too many questions within earshot of the others. He didn't hold secrets well, and she needed this to stay quiet or Charlie would pay them off and then torture her until she died. The dying part didn't sound so bad, she'd heard it's not that painful. It's the torture that would come first that really, truly scared her. And the thought of losing the people who were slowly breaking through the walls she'd surrounded herself with since she could think nearly broke her. No, she decided, definitely not Hardison.
Nate was the next person she considered but threw this out immediately remembering the time. He was either hungover massively or still drinking, and the fear of smelling alcohol right now nearly made her lose her battle with consciousness. He would also figure it out quicker than the others. It was getting harder to breathe and she quickly crossed Nate off her mental list. Sophie was off the list just as quickly, she would probably pass out or take her to the hospital. Parker couldn't go to the hospital because telling meant big trouble. Sophie also scared her slightly when she changed her personality at the drop of a pin.
That left only one person, and Parker gulped. Eliot was the scariest of the group by far. She had forced herself to not respond to the growl that was always in his voice, but when he was fighting people she couldn't hide the tremors, so she usually didn't stick around during those times. It was the worst when someone on the team got hurt. His eyes changed and reminded her of Charlie. But sometimes he showed her how to cook, and when she had been scared into the corner when he picked her up on the last job, he had talked her quietly out of the flashback and didn't ask any questions or tell anyone else. It had been almost a month since she'd seen any of them. Mind made up, she clicked his contact in the phone and hoped he answered in time. It didn't answer until the last ring, and she almost closed the phone when she heard a lady sighing and the furious tone of Eliot.
"Dammit Parker, this better be a life or death emergency because I swear to god I'm busy with something-"
"El…iot help please" she interrupted, trying to gasp for breath but it was starting to hurt even more.
"Parker?! Where are ya darlin' stay on the phone, don't hang up. Talk to me Parker," He growled frantically, already throwing on his clothes and grabbing his stuff. He didn't reply as his 'date' said call me, he never did call people again.
"Alley…. Coffee shop. Smith," She coughed, "street." She desperately tried to cling to consciousness, listening to the noises in the background as he floored his truck.
"Okay good Parker, I'm only about four minutes away. Can you tell me what happened? Focus on my voice Parker," he added when she didn't reply. "Parker!" He yelled at her after a minute, "Wake up and tell me what happened, now!" He only added the rage to his voice to scare her into staying awake, he didn't want to terrify her but it had to be done, Eliot didn't know how severe her injuries were.
The rage worked a little too well as Parker started breathing faster. It hurt too much, but she spoke anyway. "Attack… walking to office…. Hurts, Eliot," she whimpered. Eliot didn't like the way his chest constricted when he heard the terror in her voice.
"Is the person who hurt you still there? You're doin' good sweetheart, I'm proud of ya. Keep talking Parker," He said, trying to make his voice less rough, but it was worse when he was worried. He turned down the street she was on.
"No hospital Eliot, no hospital, pleas-" her pleading voice was cut off as the connection cut and he panicked. He jumped out of the truck barely taking the time to grab the key from the ignition and sprinted to the first alley he saw by the coffee shop. No Parker. The second one he tried, a bloody pile of rags backed away from him weakly, and at first he thought it was an animal that'd been hit by a car. Then he met her haunted eyes, and the constriction in his chest turned to actual fear. Eliot didn't fear things. He knelt down beside her and started checking for injuries to determine whether a hospital would be needed. He shouldn't have bothered though because the answer was definitely yes. He could see brain matter in her hair, and there was so much blood that it turned her hair red. There was also blood dripping from her pants, but he didn't have time to check as he gathered her gently in his arms and ran to the truck. He sat her in the passenger seat and cursed as a car pulled out in front of him forcing him to hit the brakes. Parker screamed as she hit the floor.
"No hospital no hospital," she muttered under her breath, and tried to open the truck door. Eliot locked it just in time and screamed at her. "PARKER if I don't take you to a hospital you're going to die. I can't fix this." Parker could only sob. Eliot was betraying her too.
He didn't care as he parked right at the doors of the emergency room, and he didn't stop to turn off the truck or anything. He could only focus on scooping Parker up and running into the hospital. The doctors immediately took her back despite the crowded room when they saw brain matter. "Parker stay awake for a little longer darlin', just try okay?" Parker was distracted though, by the fast thudding in her ear and the deep growly sound that the wall she was leaning against made when Eliot talked. Then she stiffened as she realized she was being held for the first time in her life.
"Hey Parker, it's okay I'm not gonna hurt ya sweetheart." He said soothingly, like he was talking to a spooked horse. "Okay, we're not going to be able to put her asleep in surgery with a head wound this severe. Do you know her father's contact information? Yes, sir, I understand you're a close friend of hers but we have to have a legal guardian here to sign off on you sitting in the operating theater." The doctor started trying to pry her away from Eliot but she gripped his shirt like it was the only thing keeping her from falling off of a very tall building. "I think he's the one who did this to her. Don't call him," he told the doctor quietly, and Parker froze.
"I understand, sir, but we have to call him in. It's the law. There's nothing I can do about it. I'll make an exception this time for you going into the surgery and I'll call the police as well," the doctor said calmly, noting in the chart the way she was clinging to Eliot for dear life. If the kid was going through hell like it appeared, it looked like she already had found her next foster parent. "Put her on the hospital bed, please. And I'll need your name as well for a statement later."
Eliot tried to put Parker on the bed but she refused to let go of his chest. "Eliot Spencer. Parker stop clinging to me like a damn koala bear and lay down on the bed," he growled out a bit too harshly. She immediately let go, and he gently laid her down on the bed. Eliot immediately moved to grab her again when they strapped her down in several places, but the doctor stopped him cold with, "Unless you want to break her bones and hold her down yourself while she's awake for surgery that we don't know how long will last, we have to tie her down. Just hold her hand. We're starting blood transfusions, pain medicine, and stimulants to keep her conscious. Is there anyone you need to call?" He hesitated, glanced at Parker, and nodded. He ignored the pleading look in her eyes and stepped out of the room for a moment. Eliot couldn't afford to lose his reputation with the team, but he couldn't quite keep the waver out of his voice at first. "Nate, Nate. Parker is in the hospital, she called me and told me she was attacked, but I think her foster father went too far or something. I don't know why she called me. It's bad, real bad. They've gotta do surgery while she's awake and they're calling Charlie about it. You've gotta come, I don't know how to talk her through this. Yeah, I've got my comm, just put it in. Bring a spare for Parker. Get the whole team and get over here. Gotta go, they're starting." He hung up and soon heard Nate and Sophie putting their comms in, Hardison following a second later.
Eliot swallowed heavily as he realized he had missed them putting the ventilator down Parker's throat. It hurt when those were taken out, he knew from experience, and didn't want to imagine how it felt going in. He found her hand, which was tied at the wrist, and squeezed it gently. The heart monitor was going haywire and he could hear every time Nate took a drink. They were on their way in no time, and he tried to smile at Parker, but it came out as more of a grimace. Eliot Spencer was not good at this cuddly nice stuff. He hit people for a living, and it was that precise moment when he realized just why Parker was so scared of him. He managed a smile at her then, but it was sad. She looked away and was confused at the feelings she was having. Parker didn't do feelings, she was Parker. Feelings were normal people things, not Parker things. Tears started flowing down her face as the doctors started stitching her head back together. It hurt, and the tube wasn't letting her breathe properly, and there was an annoying sounding beeping going on. Her eyes snapped to Eliot when he started talking.
"Gotta calm down, darlin'. Everythin' will be okay, I promise. He ain't gonna be in the same room as you without me there." He glared daggers at the surgeon who told him not to make promises he couldn't keep. He knew Parker heard, because she screwed her eyes shut. They were finally done closing up her head, and started moving downward. There hadn't been time to put her in a gown, so she was still in her filthy clothes. She jumped as high as she could with the restraints when they started to rip her shirt off. He tried not to look when the surgeons gasped. He rubbed the back of her too tiny hand with his thumb, and her back arched just a little bit less. Sophie was now charming the guards to get back into the room Parker would be put in just as a nurse poked her head in with a mask. "Father's here and wants to be in here, sending him in now."
"No!" Eliot jumped to his feet and prepared to force the man out. "Sir if you can't act civilly in here we're going to have no choice but to kick you out." He looked down at the hand Parker was desperately clinging to and then at her terror stricken face. This solidified the man's guilt in Eliot's mind, and he tried to swallow the rage that was steadily growing in his chest as his eyes found the child's chest, which was currently an open cavity. He pulled his mask tighter onto his face. The door opened and Parker's eyes snapped to it. The cardiac monitor was going insane, and the surgeons were yelling to remove all the tools as her entire chest was pounding with the force of her heart. A man walked in, wearing a fancy suit and tie. Eliot forced himself not to look up as he gently grabbed Parker's face in his hand, willing her to look at him. She did.
"Parker, I ain't goin' anywhere sweetheart. Just keep looking at me, that's it, don't look anywhere else except my face okay?" He slowly let go of her face, and the surgeons got back to work, speeding up as another team started to cut her pants off. She was losing too much blood and they couldn't wait any longer to see the damage. Parker jerked violently towards Eliot as Charlie grabbed her other hand. Her eyes started to roll to the back of her head, but he started talking softly to her again. "Parker I'm right here, ignore him darlin', please. He can't do anything with me here. I won't let him, I promise. Parker, look at me," he ignored the quiet crying in his comms. He knew all three of them were crying, listening to this. He used his feelings to fuel his rage when he fought, and he was gonna need to punch a lot of bad guys, soon. Parker opened her eyes and stared up at Eliot, who was taken aback by the emotions he saw in her eyes. "Parker didn't tell me she had a boyfriend, I'm not sure I like you. Get out." A voice drawled loudly inches from his ear. That also happened to have a comm in it. There was deadly silence from the comms, and then it sounded like Sophie and Hardison were trying to hold Nate back. "Are you deaf? I said, get out. I'm her legal guardian and I can kick whoever I want out." Eliot met Parker's eyes, and flickered up to meet Charlie's eyes. "No." he said, in a deadly calm voice, looking back down at the little thief who had snuck past his walls. Dammit.
The surgeons finally managed to cut the rest of her clothes off just as they were closing up her chest. They hesitated before they pulled the pants off. Her heart rate was skyrocketing again. Eliot saw red both figuratively and literally when he glanced down to see what they were cutting. "Get him out," he said simply. The surgeons looked at each other uncomfortably. They decided to call security in for assistance in case things turned ugly, as well as witness testimony for the reactions of everyone in the room. The officer brought a camera with recording equipment for evidence. What the camera (and Eliot) didn't catch was the nails drawing blood from the hand Eliot wasn't holding, keeping her quiet. The doctors pulled the cut pants off, and Eliot's knees nearly buckled. He had to lean heavily on the bed to keep from swaying. Everyone in the room was silent, and the three waiting on the comms were frantically asking what was happening. Parker was trembling despite the straps holding her down.
"Get both of them out of here," the head surgeon said suddenly. "Excuse me?" Charlie said at the same time Eliot growled, "Not happening." "The longer you just stand there, the faster she dies. If you care about her living, GET. OUT." Eliot reluctantly let go and started backing away, not turning his back for a second. Parker's eyes followed him with tears spilling out. The betrayal in her eyes almost broke him. Charlie didn't move. He kept squeezing her hand tight enough to draw blood, and smirked lowly at Eliot. "I'm her guardian, you can't legally kick me out." The surgeon sighed in frustration and defeat. Eliot immediately stepped back up to her side. "I made a promise and I always keep my promises. Not going anywhere if he doesn't," he shifted his gaze to Parker. "I'll be here, darlin', always. Till my dyin' day." He smiled softly at her, no hint of growl in his voice whatsoever.
"Get the legal guardian out of this room, right now. By force, if you have to. He's making her hand bleed," as soon as the words were out of the surgeon's mouth, Charlie's hand's were around Parker's throat. "Everyone back away now, or I snap her neck," he said. Parker was growing paler by the second. "I'm just hanging another bag of blood," a nurse said cautiously. The instant Charlie turned to watch the nurse, he tightened his hands.
Eliot released his rage.
He launched himself clear across the bed as he tackled Parker's foster dad. He stood within seconds, foot hovering just above his throat. One drop of his boot would end this, but he hesitated. He wasn't that man anymore. He looked back at the little thief, who was watching him with mixed emotions. Fear was at the forefront, followed by awe and a barely traceable hint of trust. He hesitated a second too long because the man shoved aside a tray and bolted from the room. Eliot started to follow but froze, and forced himself to return to Parker's side. He squeezed her uninjured hand gently and said, "Like I said, till my dyin' day."
Parker screwed her eyes shut tightly after Eliot sat down. They were starting the internal exam now, and she'd never wanted to disappear more than in that moment. Gasps filled the room. Parker opened her eyes quickly and the first thing she saw was the tears silently falling down Eliot's face. There was no other sign that he was emotional, and she nervously and quickly squeezed his hand. She looked away when Eliot stared at her sadly. This wasn't normal. Eliot was being… Not Eliot. Where did Eliot go? She looked at him questioningly. He stared at the surgeon, begging them to answer for him. They did.
"Miss Parker, we have to take all of your reproductive organs out. They're too badly damaged to salvage, and we'll have to do some reconstruction work in the future for you to ever have a normal ….relationship," The doctor finished off, frowning. Parker looked completely fine. In fact, she shrugged. She'd never liked kids, or wanted them. She didn't understand the thing about the relationship, but she thought they were overrated anyway. Then she understood why Eliot looked so upset as they got to work. Her back arched and every muscle in her body tensed in excruciating pain. They had to stop and remove the ventilator halfway through because it was failing with the tensed muscles. The surgery was so much worse after that. She screamed until her throat bled, and even when she couldn't make another noise she screamed silently. Eliot sang to her in her ear the entire time, pretending the tears on his face weren't at all real. After almost 45 minutes, the last part of the hysterectomy was complete. Parker's back finally stopped arching, and she just laid there trembling. "Eliot," she tried to whisper, but barely any sound came out. "Eliot," she tried again frantically. He appeared in her vision instantly. "Parker?" he asked, slightly nervous. He definitely didn't want the rest of the team finding out he'd broken. Or sang. Singing was not an Eliot Spencer thing. He was blindsided by what she said. "I wanna jump off a big building," she said almost silently. He eyed her warily. "With or without a harness?" he asked, almost afraid of the answer. Parker frowned, concentrating. "Before you found me, without. Now, I don't know," she said quietly. Eliot didn't quite know how to answer that, so he frowned. "Well, we'll just have to figure it out together then, darlin'," He smiled gently at her, though the slightly growly look was back. Parker hurt, bad, and she was tired, but she needed to hide it. She was supposed to hide it. Suddenly, Eliot was moving quickly around her and she tensed slightly. The tension immediately dissipated when she realized he was just undoing every strap trapping her to the bed. She didn't miss the desperately frantic look hiding behind his eyes.
She stiffened as he pulled her to his chest once the last strap was undone. He was careful with her slightly broken body but it still hurt a bit. The doctors had stepped out for a few moments to give the two some privacy. After all, the two hour long surgery had started with the gruff man barely able to hold her hand without grimacing, and ended with him silently crying over her and singing. To her credit, Parker calmed down quickly. The doctors had told him where the room was and that they were to call before moving to the room but she was now in the clear to sleep. He sat on the bed with her and pressed the button, deciding to let the doctors do all the work of pushing them to the room. Parker was starting to feel heavier in his arms, and he glanced down. She was stubbornly trying to keep her head up and eyes open. He gently took her head and leaned it over his heart. "Parker, I promised. I'm not goin' anywhere. I'll be here till my dyin' day." He hesitantly pressed his lips to the top of her head silently. And suddenly his chest was getting wet as she cried just as silently. The only other giveaway was her trembling, and he just stroked her hair quietly. When they entered the room that the others were in, Sophie almost passed out at the sight of so much blood, sitting down heavily in the chair behind her. Hardison looked away suddenly, guilty as hell. He should have said something to the others sooner. Nate just stared at them both, totally and utterly lost. One thing was clear to him: The little thief would never be in the foster system again.