A/N: I figured we needed one little epilogue to wrap everything up. Thanks for sticking with me and this story; I hope you enjoyed it!
"Y'all should've seen it," Hardison was saying, gesturing grandly as he wrapped up his story. "It was beautiful."
"But… I thought you told me we don't run down bad guys with cars," Parker frowned, her brow furrowed in confusion. She was sitting cross-legged on the floor next to Bear, using his back to support her own. Parker popped another bite into her mouth, then nonchalantly dropped her hand down to her knee, where Bear eagerly licked up the morsel she'd left in her palm. "That's what you told me during our last job. Even though I totally could have done it," she added.
Hardison's eyes widened ever so slightly. "Yeah, that was because we were at a racetrack, and you were already crazy enough behind the wheel of that car."
"That was a fun job," Parker grinned. "Remember how pale Nate's face was? I guess he was disappointed I didn't make first place."
"I was pale," Hardison gulped. "I didn't even know a racecar could squeeze through that small of a space."
"Ohhh, don't remind me," Sophie shuddered as she joined Hardison at the table. "That's the last time Parker drives anything during a job."
"But Hardison gets to," Parker protested. "And he hit that guy this afternoon. Hard enough to knock him out!"
Hardison sighed. "For the hundredth time, woman, I didn't hit him with the van!"
"I haven't asked a hundred times," Parker defended herself. "And you did knock him out."
Shaking his head, Hardison reached for his drink. "He ran into the side of the van. All by himself, thank you very much."
"Now you sound like Mr. Tall, Dark, and Mysterious over there," Fusco observed, coming up to join the trio. He nodded back towards the kitchen, where Reese leaned against the island, bottle in hand as Eliot stirred a bowl of something on the counter. "By the way, any of you happen to have any ketchup? I asked Muscles, but he just muttered something about appreciating his cooking and gave me the stink eye."
There was a brief pause as the others studied the contents of their plates, attempting to process the need for the condiment. Parker wrinkled her nose, but Sophie cut off whatever the other woman was about to say. "It's certainly an… interesting choice with this menu," she replied diplomatically.
"You ain't puttin' ketchup on my rumaki!" Eliot yelled, sounding less than pleased as he waved his spoon threateningly in their direction. "Who does that, man?" he growled.
As the bickering continued, Nate hid an amused smile behind his glass. He shot a sidelong glance at Finch, who was tapping away at the laptop that sat on the table. Finch had been reticent to join in on the get together, and he had only attended at all because of the final details that needed to be wrapped up to finalize the takedown of both Smith and Kiernan.
"Hardison," Nate called across the room, interrupting Eliot's threatening of Fusco. "What's the status on Leah Goldman and her daughter?"
Hardison's chair squeaked as he pushed it back from the table and sauntered over to where Nate and Finch were seated. He plopped down in the empty stuffed chair, across from Finch and to Nate's right. "That's all good, man," he answered, retrieving a tablet from the coffee table and tapping a few commands on the screen. He then offered it to Nate, who studied the social media page that was currently displayed. "Seems Leah's received a job offer at a much more reasonable salary than what her two jobs were providing before. And coincidentally, it's to manage a new residential development right outside of the city. Comes with a house and everything," Hardison finished, a very pleased smile on his face.
"And all of Smith's recently evicted customers have received anonymous donations that should get them well on their feet again," Finch added with a nod. He looked up from his own screen and adjusted his glasses. "It'll take some deeper digging, but before too long, everyone wronged by his scheme will be contacted with reparation."
Reaching over to swipe the tablet's display to a second page, Hardison continued, "That shop of Kiernan's has been shut down as well; something about a federal investigation into not-so-legally obtained drugs." He shrugged innocently, but the mischievous smile on his face belied the gesture. "And I heard there was a large donation made to a fund for the medical expenses of victims of uninspected drugs."
"So we're done?" Parker asked. She was returning from the kitchen, where she had reloaded her plate with an assortment of Eliot's goodies. "Does that mean we're leaving soon?"
No one missed the long look she gave Bear.
"Well, I actually have plans now that our job is wrapped up," Sophie announced from where she had been listening in from her place at the table. "We aren't possibly leaving before the weekend."
"The weekend? But it's only Wednesday!" Hardison looked to the others for an ally, spreading his hands in protest.
"Weekend works for me," Eliot called from the kitchen. "Reese and I were gonna hit the gym for some sparring practice later anyway."
Hardison started to protest again, but a knock interrupted whatever he was about to say.
"Ooh, that'd be me!" Sophie exclaimed, hurrying to open to the door.
Zoe smiled in greeting from the other side of the entrance. "Hello!" She offered a wave to the others in the room, then turned back to Sophie. "You ready?"
"Just let me grab my purse!" Sophie was grinning like a little girl as she stepped to the side table that held her bag, then turned to nod at the others. "See you all later!"
As the door closed behind the two women, Hardison drew out a long sigh and looked pointedly at Nate. "You think that's a good idea, unleashing them on New York City like that?"
Reese turned and shook his head in amusement at the hacker, the side of his mouth tweaking as he considered the question. "Relax, Hardison. What's the worst that could happen?"
End