I'm sitting against a wall in our 'batcave' cleaning my equipment and packing it up after we finished with Duebenich and Latimer, trying to figure out where I should go first since I know the team will have to split up for a while. I have a few solo jobs that I've been considering when I had some free time and some skills I needed to brush up on for things that I just didn't have to do very often but liked to keep in practice for. You never knew when you might need to do something unexpected and Archie had taught me to try to always be prepared for things.

I smiled slightly at the thought of Archie. It was good to see him again. I hadn't seen him since the Steranko incident, but we had been keeping I. Contact much more frequently since then. I was surprised, but pleased when he called me his daughter earlier and I was glad that he liked Hardison. It was weird that I cared about his opinion on our relationship, but it was also weird for him to offer an opinion on something non work related as well. Generally, Archie on offered his thoughts on what I could do better for a job not how I should live the rest of my life. That's something a real Dad would be worried about and I found that I really was happy that he approved of Hardison, though I'm not sure what I would have done if he didn't like him.

I also find that I'm disappointed that this all happened before we had the opportunity to go on another date. The last few weeks had been busy with work and we had watched a few late night movies/tv shows together, but hadn't had the opportunity for anything else. Now we were going to be apart for months though I was pretty sure it would be ok for me to drop in on him after a few weeks if I was careful about it. I was worried that I might backtrack during our time apart. It is too easy for thoughts of the past to make old fears and habits get in the way when I have too much time to think about things.

My thoughts on the subject get cut off when I notice Hardison walking over to me. I figure he is coming to say goodbye while he has time without everyone else around and I look up smiling at him. I'm surprised when he sits down against the wall with me, so close that his shoulder is brushing one and his knee is knocking up against mine. He's not really the kind of person who sits on the ground like I do. I continue cleaning the harness I'm holding onto, checking it over and making sure everything is fine before it gets stowed away.

"I'm glad Nate didn't actually kill anyone" I tell Hardison.

"Yeah, it was questionable for a little while there" he responds. "Are you almost done with you equipment? I'm done packing up my stuff if you need any help."

"This is my last thing. I have everything ready for either storage or to take with me, but thanks" I answer.

"Where should we go on vacation?" Hardison queries. "We can't all 5 stay together because that's too easy to track, but it shouldn't be a problem for us to travel together. I just need to know where so I can set it up. I figured we could stay together, at least until you're tired of me. People who are dating sometimes go on vacation together."

I hear his question and miss part of what comes after that because I'm so surprised, but I'm glad he didn't ask if I wanted to go with him. I probably would have said no, better to just assumes I'm going to come and find out where. Hardison really is a smart guy. Tokyo springs to mind immediately as I recall a conversation from a long time ago where he tried to get me to go on vacation to Tokyo with him and I couldn't understand why at the time, but I have learned since then that sometimes you really do just do things together because they are fun.

"Tokyo is a fun place, I hear," I say smirking slightly when I look at Hardison.

He grins at me and laughs. "Tokyo it is. I'll just need a few minutes to book our tickets and then I think we are all ready to clear out of here. This is going to be so much fun seeing Tokoy together with you."

Hardison gives my shoulder a quick squeeze and then walks away from me. I guess those jobs will have to wait and I'll have to get my practice in around whatever it is we are going to be doing. I'm glad that I'm not going to be away from him for months though. I would have missed him I think