A/N : Am back with one more chapter of E/P goodness... Still waiting on the angst factor cuz I am just filling in some background info now... It's jus' a little bit tense... the real angst-y bits come later... ( cue evil grin)

Thanks to all the ppl who reviewed... Thanks especially to Mercedes, who's been awesome about reviewing on my stories... You make me want to keep posting more chapters sooner and sooner... :)

Chapter 02

Parker had come to know Eliot more than anyone else in the group, especially after they'd started seeing each other outside of work. The two of them had been involved with each other for the last couple of months but none of the others in the team knew of it. Sophie, with her bloodhound-esque instincts might suspect something, but even she didn't know anything for sure. They'd gone to great lengths to keep this little bit of information from them, unwilling to share the small niche they'd created for themselves, away from the rest of the world that seldom understood either of them.

In the last two months, Parker and Eliot had shared more of themselves with each other than they'd ever been able to do with anyone else in the world... not even their family. They now knew things about each other that no one other than the people involved knew. In the beginning, both Parker as well as Eliot had gone into the relationship thinking that it was a way to let off steam, to get rid of the unresolved sexual tension that had brewed between them since the day they'd met.

But what it had turned out to be had been a safe haven in both of their lives, a place where they could just be themselves and not have the other person judge them, not have to be on constant alert for danger or when the person next to them would cheat them out of what was rightfully theirs. They'd both fit so well around each other both physically as well as emotionally, that when they were not on a job, it was hard to say where one ended and the other began.

Parker, for all her flightiness and craziness, brought the missing element of freedom and happiness into Eliot's life while Eliot gave her the security and stability she'd craved. They might've been made for each other if they happened to believe in stuff like that, but as it was, they were content to be in the relationship and see where it took them.

They certainly hadn't intended for this to be the result, but somehow, somewhere along the way, the two of them had become involved in something that had grown bigger than the sum of its parts. They'd fallen in love with each other and now, they were both so emotionally invested in the relationship, that not being together might just break them.

But right now, Parker needed to be at the top of her game. She needed to come back to Eliot in one piece and for that she needed his complete support. If she knew that he was worrying about her, she might lose concentration and who knew where that might make her end up?... For both her sake and his, she had to make sure Eliot was okay with this before she put one toe off the ledge she was currently standing on.

"Eliot?..."

For a second, there was utter silence as Eliot just relished the sound of her voice softly saying his name. Quickly snapping himself out of it, before anyone else in the team found something weird about it, Eliot growled out a 'yeah', his standard reply to anyone who disturbed him when he was annoyed.

He could almost hear Parker stifling the smile that threatened to break out on her cute little face as she tried to frame a sentence asking him to cooperate with the rest of the team.

"You and I both know that this is the only way we can help our client Eliot... I know what I am in for, and I promise I'll be extra careful, Okay?... I need you with me on this so that I can go in without any distractions. Now tell me... are we okay... to get on with this?"

The grumbling and growling she heard over the comms this time made her smile widely. She'd been quite circumspect while wording her request and she knew that while none of the others had any clue to what she was actually trying to convey, Eliot had gotten exactly what she was telling him. Sophie might read something into the way she'd worded the sentence or the cadence of her words but Parker was sure that neither Nate nor Hardison would ever suspect her of anything other than her unique brand of craziness

"You'd better come back in one piece or..."

"Yeah, yeah you big teddy bear... we all know what you're capable of..."

Eliot literally wanted to growl this time when he heard his crazy girlfriend's snickering over the comm along with the amused chuckles from the rest of the team... Ever since she'd called him that once and he'd failed to retaliate (basically cuz he'd been struck dumb... and had no idea how to react to something like that) Parker had taken to calling him a teddy bear whenever she felt he was being grouchy... if not to make him feel better, then to at least deflect the rest of the team from his bad mood... and for that alone, he loved her to pieces.

Shaking his head at the futility of his attempts to get them to stop the madness, Eliot resigned himself to silently worrying about Parker's safety and his mental health at allowing his girlfriend to go alone into a building teeming with ex- military goons, all of whom wouldn't take a moment to think before snapping her in half with their bare hands if they found her.

A/N : Hope this was good enough to keep the hungry lions at bay till i can come up with the next chapter... :P Promise more action in the third chapter... It will be of Parker breaking into the office with the help of the team... Keep reviewing your thoughts guys...

luv

Macybear