T – 407 minutes
"'Twas the first night of lockdown
and all through the house,
not a creature was stirring
Not even a mouse"
Parker and Hardison laughed. "Why a mouse? That's weird!" said Parker.
Eliot sighed and slammed the book shut. "Damn it, Parker! I'm done. There goes your bedtime story."
"No!" she whined.
"Come on, Eliot!" Hardison complained. "That was the farthest we got! See? We're making progress. And I want to know what happens."
"Fine. The little kids shut the hell up and don't get their faces punched in by the sexy guy."
"That was a pretty lame ending. You're bad at this," said Hardison.
"A bed time story? Seriously?" Nate asked as he came down the stairs with Sophie. His hair was disheveled more than usual and they seemed out of breath. There was a tear in Sophie's shirt.
"You two Ok?" Eliot asked, really wanting to know what they were doing up there.
Nate and Sophie shot each other a glance and muttered 'fine'. Sophie could tell they were about to bombard her with questions, so she said "Ok everyone go to bed. It's past your bedtimes."
"No it's not," Parker stated matter-o-factly. "I can stay up 'til 11 on weekends."
"Me too! And stop using us as a distraction," Hardison said, while in actuality he was trying to distract her. Screw bedtimes, he wanted to stay up later!
"I only sleep 90 minutes a day," bragged Eliot. "My bed time is like 2 AM. In your face!"
"Not fair!" Parker whined.
"Hey, man," Hardison whispered to Eliot, who scooted over next to him. "… Closer" he leaned closer. "A little closer." Eliot leaned in so his ear was about an inch away from Hardison's face. "Finish the damn bed time story!" he shouted loudly. Eliot made a move to punch him, but Hardison rolled over cringing and Parker caught his fist.
"You can't hold onto my fist forever!" he said, pissed off.
"Wanna bet?" Parker asked seriously. She wanted money, no matter what.
"Uh, no," Eliot said. He considered chewing his hand off, but then how would he be able to cook? There were no other options. Except for one. "Tickle fight!" he screamed and attacked Parker.
The point is, they all learned two new things that night: 1, Parker was ticklish and 2, Parker has a very sharp reflex when someone touches her neck. She ninja kicked Eliot in the gut. It was bad even for Eliot.
Hardison found it amusing. "Dude, that's gotta hurt."
"Parker, stop," scolded Sophie. "You all better behave. We all know this lockdown thing is bad, but deal with it. Four days- closer to three- and it will be over. No kicking," she looked at Parker, "and try not to swear too much. It really does get old quickly, and we don't buy your tough guy attitude," she looked at Eliot.
"What are you, our mother," Hardison mumbled. Sophie ignored him and instructed Eliot to finish the bed time story.
"Fine," Eliot sighed. "Where was I before I was so rudely interrupted?"