A/N: I love that this fic has so much support, and I do feel a bit bad that I don't update more often, but there just aren't enough hours in my day to write all my fics as often as I'd like to - sorry 'bout that! Still, huge thanx for all the reviews :-)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 6

There was a decidedly icy atmosphere in the apartment belonging to Nate Ford, as the Leverage team prepared for there latest con. Hardison had gone through his usual spiel and Nate had decided on what the plan would be for this particular job. Everybody agreed with silent nods and set about getting their things together and preparing for what came next. Through all this, hardly a word was spoken, much less a friendly one, and it was impossible not to notice.

Eliot seemed determined to stay as far away from Parker as possible, not even looking at her on the couple of occasions she had spoken and all other eyes went her way. It was almost as if the hitter considered his team-mate was not there at all. It made Hardison wonder if the little thief's crush on Eliot made him uncomfortable and therefore even more angry than he usually would be.

As for Nate and Sophie, Hardison figured they must be going through another of their 'off' phases where they just got mad at each other and acted all cold. He paid no mind to them since they had history and were best left alone to figure out whatever the hell this thing was on their own. It was different with Eliot and Parker, his brother and the girl he had to admit he had his own little crush on, truth be told. They were as close as family and he didn't like to see any part of that broken. Unfortunately, poking his nose into other people's business rarely ended well and he kind of didn't want to do it now. He might not have said anything at all, if not for the incident that took place next.

"Eliot..." said Parker as she stood behind him and reached a hand to touch his shoulder.

The hitter spun around so fast, he was almost a blur, his expression much more angry than was necessary, even if she had managed to startle him, which would be quite a feat itself.

"What?" he snapped at the blonde, who visibly recoiled, apparently deciding that whatever she might've been going to say or do just wasn't important anymore.

"Nothing" she muttered, folding her arms defensively as she backed up a step and all eyes watched as the pair of them stared at each other a long moment.

"Then leave me alone" Eliot advised, striding away and leaving all of the other four members of the team speechless as well as confused.

Before anybody could ask what happened, Parker practically ran into the kitchen, banging all the cupboard doors open and closed again until she found the cereal she was looking for. Hopping up on the counter with her back to the rest of the room, she shoved her hands into the box and began shoving great handfuls into her mouth, crunching loudly on every bite.

"Okay, what the hell is going on there?" asked Hardison, the situation getting the better of him by now.

"I honestly couldn't tell you" replied Sophie, looking sadly at the back of Parker and then off in the direction Eliot had walked a moment before.

She hated to see the two of them like this, and wondered how it had ever happened. The last she'd heard, Eliot was knocking a guy into the ground for daring to come near Parker. In the space of less than forty eight hours, he now didn't seem to care for her company at all, going completely off the deep-end just because she asked for his attention a moment, most likely for something con-related.

"Eliot is being angry and Parker is acting strange" said Nate softly, mindful of causing any more trouble if he was somehow overheard by either of the people he spoke of, "I really don't see how things could be more normal, so what is the problem?" he asked in earnest.

Sophie could only look at him with a certain amount of disbelief and near-disgust as she shook her head and walked away. She headed not for Parker to offer comfort and such as the guys watching her might have expected. Instead, she headed into the next room to find Eliot, making her a braver person than most given the bad mood he was clearly in right now.

"Whatever it is, Soph, just don't even bother" he said, the moment he felt a presence behind him in the room and recognised it as the grifter thanks to her perfume.

"If only it were that simple" she replied, folding her arms across her chest, much like he usually did when he was being stubborn as a mule.

Right now he was sitting on the edge of a table by the window of this room that was not really used for anything but storing furniture and things that didn't have a real home. It was strange when Sophie thought about it, how much this room represented their team in many ways. A place for those to go who had nowhere else. She shook her head free of those thoughts in order to concentrate on the matter at hand.

"You do realise what a child you're being right now, don't you?" she asked him, not the least bit phased when Eliot turned angry eyes on her and glared, "Oh come on" she rolled her eyes, "Snapping at poor Parker for daring to come within three feet of you, storming off into another room and hiding like a baby..."

"You really don't wanna be having this talk with me right now..." he warned her, his knee jiggling with pent up energy that he had no outlet for at the moment.

There was too much going on his head and he needed out. Eliot realised it would've been better if he'd just gone out the front door and driven away, driven for miles until he felt like he could breathe again. Maybe just taken himself home or to the gym and beat on a bag til his fists went numb. Anything was better than this conversation... with the possible exception of watching Sophie perform in Death of a Salesman.

"Eliot" she said, suddenly beside him, trying to make him look at her though he refused, "I know you're the tough guy in this team, but you're not cruel" she told him, "I know you wouldn't actually hurt Parker on purpose, so why are you acting this way?" she asked, sure she had at least some idea given the way the little thief had been giving her regular updates on the state on their 'relationship' so far, but needing to hear his side now.

Eliot closed his eyes and expelled a breath. He didn't talk about his feelings, never needed to or wanted to, and yet he knew that this time he might just go crazy if he didn't tell somebody what was going on. Nightmares he could deal with, memories and fears all balled up into one Technicolor horror movies inside his sleepy mind. He could work through all of that alone, he had to, it came with the job. Still, last night had been so different, so far from anything he'd even let himself think about since High School and Amy and a world a million miles away from his life now.

"You think Parker has... I don't now, like a crush on me or somethin'?" he asked, deciding it was as good a place as any to start.

"Honestly?" Sophie checked, as he looked her in the eye, knowing the same as he did that no matter how well she lied she wouldn't fool him again, not after the last time, "Yes, I think she likes you" she admitted, not sure whether she was really making matters better or worse but sure at least that he couldn't hate her for lying and that was something.

"Yep, that's what I thought" said Eliot, looking back out of the window.

Honestly, he wasn't sure if Sophie's answer made him feel better or worse. If Parker had a crush on him, well, he ought to find it sweet, maybe flattering, but ultimately funny, and ignore it until it went away. Unfortunately, the Powers That Be or whatever the hell was out there seemed to be trying to tell him that there was a chance the feelings here weren't all on her side of the divide. There seemed to be a good chance that he felt the same, buried down deep with all the other feelings Eliot had been telling himself he didn't or couldn't need if he wanted to survive in this world, doing the job that he did.

One thing was for sure, he'd been right about that drive he wanted to take. He needed to be away from here for a while, screw the latest con and the team, he had to go. Eliot needed to clear his head, to think straight, without situations or questions or pretty little thieves that wanted to invade his sleep. He was up on his feet before Sophie could react, and when she did make it into the living room, he was already slamming the front door behind him.

Parker was down from the kitchen counter at this point, in two minds whether she was still mad at Eliot for yelling at her, or wanting to chase after him and find out what was wrong. Sophie made the choice for her as she rushed over, taking hold on the younger woman by the upper arms.

"No, I'll go" she said, glancing from the blonde to Nate and Hardison, and then back to add something else in a low whisper, "Put your earbud in" she advised, waiting just a beat for Parker to nod before grabbing her coat from the hook by the door and chasing out after Eliot.

Nobody was watching when Sophie's hand slid into her pocket, pulled out her earbud and pushed it into her ear. She had a plan, one that might be called conning your own team by some, if they had a mind to look at it that way. Sophie only hoped that if and when this all came to light later, Eliot might just be too happy to be mad at her. Of course, it was a long shot, but she was willing to try for the sake of two friends happiness.

"Eliot!" she called after the hitter, catching up to him just as he cleared the door onto the street, "Please don't go off like this" she urged him, "It's not helping"

"Then tell me what is gonna help, Soph?" he asked her too loudly, anger at himself or her or something else entirely bubbling up and boiling over, though she wasn't scared for even a moment.

"Talking helps" she tried to advised him, but he only laughed at her, a humourless chuckle she'd sooner not have heard, "You know Parker talks to me about things, it seems to help her"

"Yeah, well, I ain't crazy like her" Eliot pointed out, an edge to his tone that wasn't necessarily meant to wound but would do anyway, Sophie was sure, "I hate all this, and I don't need it" he snapped, turning to stride away, as the grifter winced.

She knew Parker had just heard what Eliot had said, probably taken it in the worst possible way it could be meant, even though she was sure the hitter meant no harm. He couldn't have known Parker was listening in, and Sophie realised what a fool she had been to suggest it as she imagined the pained look that was indeed crossing the little thief's face.

A little yelp escaped Parker's mouth as she ripped her earbud out as if it burned her and hopped to her feet, unsure what to do next. Hardison and Nate both turned to peer at her, wondering what had her all wound up like that so suddenly.

"Parker, are you okay?" the mastermind asked her gently.

"Fine" she said shortly, hurrying away too quickly for that to be true, slamming the bathroom door shut behind her as if to prove herself wrong.

Downstairs, Sophie wasn't giving up without a fight. She heard Parker take the bud out before she ever got a chance to whisper an apology. Later she would have to fix things on the poor girls end, but right now she still had Eliot to deal with.

"You know for a tough guy, you have a terrible tendency for running away from things" she told him, catching his arm with her hand.

He stopped but didn't look back at her, making her walk all the way around him just to see his face. She saw something in his eyes then, emotions he always did is best to hide from anyone who tried to see. Sophie was still sure he liked Parker, though how much she couldn't precisely guess. She wanted him to tell her, but the phrase 'blood out of a stone' ought to have been invented for Eliot Spencer.

"I got dumped, y'know" she told him, her own eyes dipping to the pavement then, "My boyfriend said... well, it doesn't really matter what he said, it just matters that he dumped me" she repeated, finding it just a little easier the second time.

"I'm sorry" Eliot told her, looking genuine enough, though he'd never met the guy Sophie was talking about and wasn't hugely surprised that the relationship hadn't worked out, truth be told.

"Yeah, well, it happens" she shrugged, "But I'm not denying it hurts" she went to explain, "I have feelings, Eliot, and they got hurt by this guy because I really did like him" she told him, the look on her face and tone of her voice suggesting she wasn't saying this so much to share for sharings sake as she was to encourage him to do the same, "What I'm trying to tell you is that even people like us are allowed to feel, and sometimes it helps to tell someone what it is that you're feeling instead of bottling it up like worms in a can, raging like an animal, and storming out of the door like a child" she told him definitely.

"You want to throw a few more analogies in there?" he asked with a smirk that he just couldn't help, causing her to roll her eyes in return.

They both knew he was avoiding saying whatever he was thinking, and both knew it wasn't doing any good. She wasn't going to let this lie and he was going to be driven to the point of insanity if he didn't just tell her what was up.

"I had some weird dream about Parker, okay?" he said quickly and quietly to the point where she almost didn't catch what he said at all, "That's all I'm sayin' so don't ask me anymore!" he warned, pointing a definite finger at Sophie, who nodded that she understood.

It took everything she had not to grin at the idea of Eliot dreaming of Parker. After all, he had said 'dream' and not nightmare. That combined with how jumpy he was and the fact he'd outright asked her if Parker liked him, well, she had to think it was a real doozy of an encounter he'd seen inside his head!

"I knew you liked her" she said, allowing herself just a little triumph as she headed back towards the doors.

They had to go back to Nate's apartment, they had a job to do, and since this was all figured out now, Sophie saw no reason why she and Eliot couldn't just go. That was perhaps why she was a little startled when his hand landed on her arm and pulled her back a moment.

"You can't tell Parker, or the guys" he said definitely, not a question but not a threat either, in fact, if she had to put a name to it, Sophie would say there was desperation in his request.

"Of course not" she swore, "I promise, not a word" she said definitely, miming drawing a zip closed across her lips as they headed back upstairs.

Sophie did her best to repress the smile that wanted to force its way onto her lips, after all, she could use Nate and Hardison not asking questions, and she needed to be sympathetic for Parker who was probably still upset. Besides, the only reason Nate had said she could take point on this Monica Hunter job was because she was supposedly heartbroken over her break-up. Grinning like an idiot was hardly the way to show it!

To Be Continued...