A/N: So glad all my readers are still with me and enjoying this fic - many thanx for all the reviews! The previous chapter and this one were my faves so write so far!

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 12

Eliot wasn't sure when he fell asleep exactly. He'd been so tired after the latest con, and yet found plenty of energy when Parker had shown up at his door, taking off the dress she wore and making it plain what she had come here for. With both of them out of their clothes before they even began and mere feet from the open bedroom door, it wasn't exactly surprising that what happened had happened like it did. All those intense dreams that had haunted Eliot for so long, and yet nothing had prepared him for reality. Of course, he hadn't much time to wonder on it now as he realised he was alone in his bed, and yet not the only one in his room.

"Parker?" he said into the darkness, the clock catching his eye as he pulled himself up, telling him it was still before dawn.

The figure of her, barely dressed as she was, stopped moving before his bleary eyes, and Eliot focused on her stood there like a deer in headlights.

"I was leaving" she explained, a waver in her voice that he didn't really understand as he tried to process what she was saying.

"I don't..." he began as he got up and went over to her, stunned to realise she was shaking like a leaf, and that her eyes looked red as if she might've been crying, "What's wrong, darlin'?" he asked, moving to put his arms around her, only to have her turn away.

"Nothing" she said sharply, "Why would anything be wrong?" she shrugged, pushing her hair out of her face.

Eliot was kind of baffled right now. His sleep deprived brain was already in over-drive after what he and Parker had done here tonight, and now she was acting strange even for her. She didn't do emotions most of the time, and yet, whilst they hadn't exactly been talking before, they had both shown plenty of feelings when they were together. Now she seemed upset, with herself or with him, Eliot couldn't be sure, but he didn't like it at all.

"Here" he said, pulling the comforter off the bed and wrapping it around her shoulders, mindful still of her shaking, though he wasn't convinced all of it was from the cold.

She muttered a thanks but still refused to face him, her eyes flitting from the bed to the door. A voice in her brain was screaming at her to run, to bolt out the door, grab her dress, and be gone into the night like she had done more than once before. Still, she couldn't find a way to make her legs work, not least because she ached in muscles that had no business aching, but more than that because staying here actually seemed like a good idea. That in itself was scary as hell to Parker, and she just didn't know what to do with all the mixed up things she was feeling.

"I never... I never did this" she said, and Eliot honestly wasn't sure if she was talking to herself or to him.

"You never..." he began, a little confused now because he was pretty sure that Parker was not a virgin.

"Never stayed" she admitted, turning around now to face him, hitching the comforter up around her shoulders more as she made herself meet his eyes, "When I have sex, I leave, before the guy ever wakes up. I never stayed before" she shook her head to confirm her point, "but then... I never felt... I never went with a guy like you before" she said, feeling so dumb as tears came to her eyes.

Parker never cried, never, and yet here she was looking strangely frightened and far too upset. Eliot hated to see her like this and yet he really wasn't sure what to say to make it better. She wasn't making a whole lot of sense, which was usual for Parker, but then it had never mattered quite so much before tonight that he didn't understand.

"A guy like me?" he echoed those words that had him the most confused, "What's that mean?" he checked.

Parker took a deep breath, trying to regain control of her emotions as well as form a viable sentence, neither of which seemed to be coming easily right now. She didn't tell people how she was feeling, never showed them either, not until tonight. She'd thought it would be simple, that she would come here and take off her clothes, that she and Eliot would have sex and then she'd be over it. Parker had honestly believed it would be so easy, get the itch scratched and move on, but it really wasn't that simple.

"I actually care, about you" she tried to explain, "And you care about me, and... I didn't know it'd make that much difference"

Eliot was starting to understand what she was driving at now, because if he let himself actually think about it, believe what he felt was real, then he knew that sleeping with Parker had been very different to with other girls too. Comparing women he'd had sex with always seemed wrong, never so much as right now, and yet Eliot couldn't help it. The only time he came close to feeling like he had with her was with Aimee, the only other woman in his life he had loved. Maybe that meant he was in love with Parker, maybe it didn't, right now all he knew for certain was that she was breaking his heart by being so upset and he needed for them both to figure this out. Unfortunately, before he had the chance to process enough thoughts to actually speak, Parker had her own things in mind to say again.

"I just thought after we did it, I'd stop wondering, stop caring about it, or about you, in that way" she said, as straight-forward as she could, as she always did, "but now it's all worse, because these feelings are getting stronger and more mixed up and it's like I'm going to be trapped with them forever..." she trailed off, her hand over her chest that genuinely hurt right now.

Eliot didn't have words to give her, none that would help anyway. He didn't have it in him to tell her he loved her, not right now, not when he wasn't even sure of it himself. Instead he went with actions, just the same as she had when she showed up at his place hours before. His hand slid into her hair and pulled her head gently closer as he leaned in to kiss her lips. He was mindful of freaking her out, on his guard at first in case she flipped, but it didn't happen. She kissed him back with little hesitation, melting into a familiar moment that could have gone anywhere from here, but didn't right now as Eliot moved away first.

"I'm sorry" he told her, leaning his forehead against Parker's own, "I'm sorry if I made it worse, but if it helps at all, I'm as thrown for a loop by this as you are" he assured her.

Parker let her eyes fall shut as she leant into the hand that moved through her hair and to her cheek. She didn't blame Eliot for what was happening, because it just wasn't his fault. She had come here looking for sex and that was what she got, only it was so intense, so sweet and tender at the same time, like nothing she ever experienced before. Nobody ever told her that it could feel that way, that she might actually want to stay with a guy after, his arms holding her close, safe, warm.

She ought to have known it would be different with Eliot, because he was different, like no other guy she ever knew in her life up to now. It was scary, properly scary to think that this could happen to her, that she could want and need somebody else like this. All her instincts told her to run away as fast as she could, and yet the over-riding feeling of warmth and security and something else she didn't even have a name for yet stuck her to this spot, wrapped in the arms of a man that mixed her up so much and yet at the same time made her feel so calm and safe.

"I like it, when you hold me" she blurted out, as Parker was want to do.

When a thought ran through her head, it just spilled out of her mouth without a filter and as annoying as it had seemed to Eliot when he first knew her, he found the honesty entirely refreshing these days.

"That works out" he smiled, hugging her close, "'cause I like holding onto you" he told her, encouraging her to follow him back to bed.

They lay down together, her curled up in his arms, fighting the urge to bolt. It wasn't an easy thing, fighting instincts she'd had for more years than she cared to count, but she wanted to do it. She wanted this to be okay, to let the warmth and comfort she was feeling over-ride everything else. Eliot was totally worth the effort she had to make and clearly he thought so too, because he was one of very few that cared enough to listen when she talked, to try to be nice to her when she got upset or confused.

"How come it's not always like this?" she asked, meeting his eyes, "I mean, I had sex before, lots of times..."

"Parker" Eliot interrupted her, trying not to get mad, "You don't talk about other guys you slept with when you're still... well, when you're here. At least, not right now"

"Oh" she looked a little embarrassed that she'd screwed up but soon got over it and carried on anyway, "but why was this different?" she asked earnestly, "I mean, I never wanted to stay before, and I never... it just never felt like this" she tried to explain but did so badly as was usual for Parker.

To be honest, Eliot wasn't totally surprised she had trouble verbalising. He wasn't great with emotions himself, especially not finding words to describe them well as a general rule. She wasn't wrong in what she said, this had been different, far from just sex, just a release like it had been with Raquel or any other one night stand he'd had. In his own head, he berated himself for turning into a chick in this moment, but it had been special, there was no other word Eliot could find to describe it.

"Does it matter?" he asked, running his fingers through her hair, "Can't we just go to sleep now, maybe talk about it in the morning?"

"You don't mind if I'm still here in the morning?" she checked, perhaps finding it as odd that he wanted her to stay as she did knowing that she wanted to, when it was not her usual choice.

"I'd like it better if you were" he told her honestly, with a smile that made her stomach flip in the best way, as his eyes fell closed.

He had to be tired, Parker realised, after the con they pulled and then all the sex. Honestly, she was feeling the drag of sleep herself, and nowhere had ever been a more perfectly comfortable place to rest than this, she realised, as she joined Eliot in slumber.

It was light out the next time Eliot Spencer opened his eyes to the world. Despite the fact he hadn't had quite as much sleep as he planned last night, there was no denying he felt good this morning, or at least he did until he rolled over and found the rest of the bed empty again. A frown creased his brow as he sat up and looked around the room, finding Parker nowhere to be seen.

Pushing his hair back off his face, Eliot let himself collapse back against the pillows, feeling like he'd just fallen five hundred feet off a cliff into deep dark water. He thought he got through to Parker last night, thought she understood how he felt about her. He genuinely thought she would still be here in the morning and yet it seemed he was wrong. Now he was going to have to face the team, explain how he screwed up. God, there was a chance that Parker wasn't just gone from his apartment but from Boston, maybe even out of the country by now. Just as Eliot's mind began racing with a hundred awful scenarios, all of which meant he had lost Parker from his life, he suddenly heard a noise.

Eliot took his hands away from his face and listened intently, sure somebody was in his kitchen. Strangely he thought it might be an intruder, before his brain reminded his instincts he was being an idiot. Hopping out of bed, he was soon stood in the kitchen doorway, admiring the view of Parker searching through his cupboards, wearing just one of his own shirts over her underwear. Hell, he could've stood there all day, leaning on the door jamb with his arms folded just watching her, being a part of his home. It was the strangest feeling, but in the best way.

"What are you doing, darlin'?" he asked after a while when the curiousity got the better of him, since she had opened just about every door in the place, and yet taken nothing out so far.

"I was hungry" said Parker, spinning around with as much grace as ever, "Don't you have cereal?" she asked with a look of real confusion that Eliot could relate to.

Not that he was baffled by his own lack of cereal, but apparently they weren't even going to talk about what had happened between them last night. Parker was the one who had been up in the middle of the night, wanting to hash out the finer points of their would-be relationship, and now the only thing on her mind seemed to be food. The girl was crazy, but she was his crazy girl now and that was all that really mattered to Eliot.

"I only eat real food" he reminded her, wandering over and running a hand through her hair, "What do you want?"

"I don't know" she shrugged, leaning into his touch, unable to keep the smile off her face, "What do you want?" she asked, feeling just a little awkward as she put her arms around him, until she felt the familiarity of Eliot's arms around her too.

"What do I want?" he echoed the question, seemingly thoughtful, "Mostly... you" he admitted, capturing her lips with his own.

In moments they were both lost in a kiss neither could bear to break, and though their hunger was still apparent, it wasn't exactly for food anymore.

"Maybe breakfast could wait a while?" Parker breathed between kisses.

"Deal" Eliot swiftly agreed as he picked her up off her feet and carried her off the bedroom, giggling all the way with the giddy surprise of it all.

Parker had never been so glad of anything she'd done as coming here last night and making this happen with Eliot, and that included every con she'd ever pulled, every diamond she'd ever stolen. So far this was going really, really well!

To Be Continued...