A/N: Yes, a second one! Didn't think I'd post more than one, would you? Ha, gotcha! ;)
PS.: I still have a couple of chapters (twelve or something *coughs) in the buffer for mac (and you, that is) and erm... no, I'm not done with it yet. Yes, I'm trying to change that. Really.
Four
She wonders if it'll ever change. And why they actually do that. Ever since she'd been back from her little foray and had handed Hardison Captain Aimée's cell phones and purse and Eliot had come in from a day of scouting the base the Major and the Captain are supposed to be stationed at only a few minutes later, they're bickering at each other.
"What do you mean, you didn't get anything? You walked me through a US Army interrogation and the barracks without even being there." Eliot just glares back.
Then he growls, "I never said I didn't get inside." She wonders how he did that… with his long hair and everything. She doesn't know much about the military but she does know that they have to keep their hair very, very short.
"What then? Got distracted by some hottie in uniform?" It earns Hardison one of those glares Eliot usually reserves for her and she debates whether to try and give Hardison a warning… but decides against it because as long as they keep bickering, they leave her alone to ponder a few things.
Those two… the Major with the blue-grey eyes and the Captain that looked a lot like Aimée… they intrigued her. After working with the team for over two years now, she's used to screwed up individuals as well as screwed up relationships – they probably don't think she's capable of noticing it but she does know very well that whatever is going on between Nate and Sophie is not what you'd call a healthy relationship – but what she's not used to is two screwed up individuals… who can have a not-screwed up relationship.
They think she doesn't know people but she does. She just doesn't always get them. And after Sophie taught her how to do it, she developed a good instinct to recognize other people who aren't quite your usual standard model citizen even though they look like it. Those two soldiers? Prime Grade A screwed up material.
She could see it in the lines around the Major's eyes and how he always seemed to be on guard, even in a place like some café on the sidewalk. And she could see it in the way the Captain's hands never really stilled, how they were always moving, using the wind in the hair as an excuse… or how she always seemed like a coiled up spring, ready to jump up the moment someone made a wrong move.
So yes… those two really are screwed up. But for some strange reason she can't explain their relationship didn't seem to be. It almost seems like a miracle to her because everything around her had taught her that screwed up people only could have screwed up relationships where they did terrible things to each other and still couldn't walk away from each other which is why she secretly decided she would never, ever let herself be thrust into something like that.
But the Captain and the Major… they… trusted each other, deeply. She can't even explain why she thinks so but they practically oozed trust. And they seemed to know each other so well and still were together. For her, getting to know people always ended up with her wanting to withdraw from them, cut herself off from them – the only people who don't let her do that are her team but the level of knowing isn't half as deep as it seemed between the soldiers. It's really a riddle to her how they managed to do all that and so she sits there and ponders it and…
"Man, I really don't get it." She blinks and her head jerks up a little. Over at the apartment's kitchen table, Eliot and Hardison are still trying to make sense of the items she stole from Captain Aimée.
Hardison just goes on ranting and shaking his head but Eliot… Eliot seems to have noticed something because he suddenly looks at her and raises his eyebrow, as if to ask her what she's doing there, sitting cross-legged on the coffee table, staring off into space. She just gives him one of those pointed looks from beneath her bangs that seem to fluster him and like every time, it works. He goes back to listening to an irate Hardison… but she's got the feeling that he's still very much aware of her being in the room, in that silent predatory way of his that always flusters her.
Hardison, however, is still bent over the laptop, shaking his head. "Deep space telemetry… That girl's a kick ass Marine, explosives specialist, married to some hot shot pilot in the same project and it's supposed to be deep space telemetry?" At first she hadn't really understood what the whole problem was so she had – just for once not in the mood to bother Eliot or Hardison – quietly Googled the term and then everything had made infinitely more sense. Well, actually it had made sense that nothing made sense.
However… there comes something to her mind… something from the conversation she had overheard, just when her fingers had made their way into the Captain's handbag. Something that could probably help. And she really likes to help Hardison because, you know, he's her friend. Also… she wants to get back at Eliot for cutting her idea about the thing the Major had called C-9B short. "They were talking about zero-gravity sex."
For a moment, everything is quiet as both Eliot and Hardison stare at her, one with a frown on his face, the other with open shock. It's Hardison who finds his voice first – even though it's probably Eliot who recovers from the shock first, judging by the slight smirk on his face – and who sputters, "Wha… Parker! I really didn't… Parker!"
She… doesn't quite get what his problem is. No, okay, that's a lie. She knows exactly what his problem is – for some reason, the overconfident Hardison she knows and likes becomes a babbling fool whenever she mentions sex – but she doesn't really see why he did it just now. After all, she was just stating a fact from a conversation between two people who were basically strangers. Maybe… she needs to clarify it a bit. "I mean they were talking about it as if they could actually try it."
There's another moment of silence and then Hardison utters a slightly incredulous "…really?"
Uh, yeah, that's what she just said, isn't it? She can't help looking at them like something is wrong with them when she replies, "Really."
Eliot's only reaction is leaning back in his seat, his expression changing into the one he always wears when something got him thinking but Hardison just mutters, "Oh man... there's some really hinky shit going on here," sounding strangely excited and somewhat… happy. Huh.
And just because she now feels like bothering Eliot and Hardison, she bends her head a little and adds a little off-handedly, "Yeah. I wonder if they'd let me try as well."
Hardison is choking on that, just a little bit while Eliot just rolls his eyes and she half awaits the usual "There's something wrong with you," but then she realizes… he just rolled his eyes at Hardison. For her… he has a… smirk? Grin? Suggestive grin? No better not think about it.
"Uh, yeah… oh, hey, look, credit card!" And with that Hardison practically dives for the Captain's purse and fumbles the first credit card he can get out of it. It takes him about… 30 seconds of furiously hacking away on his keyboard to get his mind off her remark. And it seems to have worked very well. "Holy… aw, no, man… I don't… that can't… She has a nearly seven figure bank account! Seven figures!" She perks up. Money talk! Oh, she can do money talk very well. Hardison, however, can't stop shaking his head. "Do you know what kind of pay Marine Corps Captains make?"
"Yeah," Eliot almost growls, "crap pay." Now they really have her interested. She gets up from the coffee table and walks over to them, peering over Hardison's shoulder. And yes, there it is… a really big number.
"I think the Captain will be my new best friend," she can't help utter and grins.
Hardison looks up to her, a mock injured look on his face, clutching his heart. "Aw, you wound me, Parker. You'd leave me for a fistful of dollars?" Did he really just ask that? "Sides I got more than just those measly little bucks on there." Yes, that sounds more like it. And she really likes the crooked little smile he gives her because that's easier to handle than the flustered reactions when she mentions anything having to do with sex.
She wants to give something back but Eliot barges in, still that underlying growl in his voice, "Get me her paychecks."
Immediately, Hardison becomes annoyed again. "Ey, when I said that there is no blueprint fairy, I also meant there is no paycheck fairy."
She half expects Eliot to bitch back but he's in one of those moods where something is too important to lose time with bickering. "I said get me her paychecks, at least of the last seven months, better more."
For a moment, it looks like Hardison will talk back but then it seems to have registered that Eliot just gave him a challenge and if she knows one thing about Hardison it's that he really, really likes challenges. "Anything special you're looking for?"
They're now both in professional mode again; no bickering, just concentrated cooperation. "Not yet. But look at her income. It all adds up but there's only one big source: the DOD. Paycheck's the key to this, trust me."
Hardison is hacking away on the keyboard again and windows are popping open and getting closed on his screen at breakneck speed. She can hear him curse softly under his breath and catches one or two really foul assumptions about the parentage of… someone or something that is connected to the windows on the screen.
After a little more hacking and cursing he shakes his head and says, "Hell no. I don't believe this. Her paychecks are classified."
Eliot frowns. "Classified?"
"Yeah. As in 'not free for all'. As in 'top secret.' As in…" Uh-oh, that certainly is not the right answer to Eliot's question.
Mh, yeah, she was right, as evident now in the look of barely tamped down irritation on Eliot's face. "I know the definition of classified, thanks. Just wondering… who'd want to classify a paycheck? And why?" Oh, she could give him a few reasons… but he doesn't look to be in the mood for her rattling them all off. "Anyway, keep working on it," he adds but it's unnecessary because Hardison has gone into his geek mode and she gets up to get him some of that awful orange stuff he likes to drink and some chips because she knows he has a habit of not leaving the laptop as long as he hasn't solved whatever needs to be solved.
While she does that, Eliot starts talking on the phone, apparently telling Nate – who stayed behind in D.C. with Sophie to do some additional research that has to do with the papers the blond Major gave them – about what they found out so far. It's a rather brief call and Eliot doesn't really look satisfied when he's done… but then he spots something on the table and his face lights up again.
She waits for him to grab it and… oh, it's the scrap of paper they found in the Captain's purse. It has a San Francisco address on it, not that far away from here… ah, she thinks she's starting to get what made Eliot's face light up. And yeah… "Hey, Parker… you up for a little housebreaking?" Yes, thank God, exactly what she was hoping for. Without even giving him an answer she just checks one last time that Hardison has everything he needs and will be okay for the time they're gone and then gets her basic tools. She's out the door before Eliot even got to tell Hardison that they'll be gone for a while.
