Chapter 20: New beginnings

Make new friends but keep the old; those are silver, these are gold.- The opening of the poem New friends and Old friends by Joseph Parry

"Hello Mr. Reid." Jimmy said as he pushed Mrs. Prylan's wheelchair closer to the window.

"Spencer's fine." He always felt like he was being compared to his father when he was called by his sir name.

"Hi Mrs. Prylan" Parker walked over excitedly "Want some?"
She offered a piece of the pear she was eating, not understanding why the woman suddenly looked so nervous.

"That's very kind of you Miss Parker but I think it's time Mrs. Prylan be getting back to her room."
They had just come from her room but Palmer knew that Mrs. Prylan was beginning to get agitated by Parker's presence.

"What's up with her?" Parker watched as they left down the hall.

"I can't imagine." Reid just knew he'd be giving yet another apology before their visit was over.

"Hey Finn!" Parker shouted running across the room and to the man in question.

"Hey Parker!" He greeted as he set down the broom he was using.
He had quickly taken a liking to the woman who claimed he was the most interesting thing at the sanitarium.

"Where's mom?" She wondered as she pulled him into a quick hug.

"She's been reading that book Spencer dropped off for her." Finn was wondering himself what topic
could have caught her interest so that she had been reading for nearly three hours straight.

"Then she's having a good day." Parker exclaimed excitedly.

"She's been having a good week." Finn was happy to tell her.

"That's wonderful." Spencer was glad to hear they would be getting to spend a visit with their mother that would hopefully be incident free.

"Let's go let her know you're here then." Finn grabbed the supplies he had been using
as Parker took the broom and they started up the hall to Diana Reid's room, Spencer following.

"Mom" Spencer announced his presence as he knocked on the open door.

Looking up from her book Diana was thrilled to see both of her children standing in the doorway. "Come in."

"Like your book?" Parker asked as she hugged her mother receiving a kiss in return.

"Yes I do Parker. Breena has even offered to come by later to discuss the parts she's gotten the chance to read."

"Breena's been reading with you?" Spencer wondered as he received his own kiss.

"Not with me but I did let her take it home the other night. She wasn't joking when she said she enjoyed
reading; we can talk for hours about our favorite works." Diana was glad she had someone to share her passion with.

"That's nice." Parker sat on her mother's bed bouncing slightly.

"Enough about me though, tell me what you two have been up to." Diana set her book to the side giving her children her full attention.

"When Mr. Hotchner was arrested as an accessory to something some Anderson dude did Spence took over the teller's job who was promoted to management."
Parker wasn't clear on the exact details but she knew her brother had a job and that was all she really cared about.

"I'm working at the bank as a teller." Spencer covered quickly as he shot Parker a glare.
He hoped his mom didn't think too much on what his sister said, she didn't need to make herself sick worrying about something of no importance.

"It's nice that you've found yourself a respectable job, I didn't like the idea of you working in a casino."
Diana was glad her daughter especially hadn't ended up in that establishment; it was no place for a respected young lady to be seen.

"I do enjoy the work I do there even if Elliot hasn't exactly taken to me yet. I've also enrolled in a few classes to start this spring."
Spencer had been shocked when he realized that with his new job he would finally be able to afford to continue his education like he'd dreamed.

"Elliot's the security guard at the bank but it's ok, he's grumpy to everyone." Parker answered the unasked question.

"Have you thought about what you'll become?" Diana was sad that she had not been able to provide
her children with an extended education but happy that Spencer had made that dream of hers come true for himself.

"Right now I'm just going to enjoy the actual concept but I think I may delve deeper into mathematics."
He was clearly excited by this but his mother could tell he was doing his best not to go off on one of his rambles that were actually quite informative.

"And how have you been spending your time?" She was always interested in the antics of her quirky daughter.

"I've been helping out my friend Abby. She got pushed-"

"PARKER!" Spencer yelled at his sister who jumped slightly not expecting it.

He hadn't told his mother about any of the insanity that had happened that night.
He didn't think it would do her any good knowing they had landed themselves right in the middle
of a murderer, the Italian mafia, and a brothel owned by one of their friends who also turned out to be a madam.

"Well she hurt her leg pretty badly so me and a few of her friends have been helping her with the business her father left her."
Parker decided it best to leave out the fact that Abby had only been out of the hospital a little over two weeks and that the business was the very
casino her mother didn't want her working in. Ironically enough the casino of all things was his only legitimate business and all the others had been confiscated.

"What exactly does that entitle?"

"Well Tony's been working on a bit of everything trying to get things up and running again.
JJ is still helping in her spare time but she got a contract for a clothing line in one of the department stores so we don't see her much.
Ziva got cast in some movie about a dog or was it a monster, maybe an alien, but according to her it's going to be bigger than Casa Blanca.
I wouldn't know though, I've never seen it, but she's filming right now and says it'll be out within a year or two." Parker shrugged quickly continuing.
"Penelope is still working with Abby but she said she was taking her lesson seriously and getting out of wardrobe and did I tell you I was offered the position of manager." Parker wasn't really sure what that meant exactly but she knew she'd end up boss of someone which was better than them bossing her.

"That's wonderful, what will you be managing?"

Shrugging her shoulders Parker decided to liven things up, "Do you wanna hear about Spencer's girlfriend? Hardison was saying something
about him playing with fire when he chained himself to her." She continued with Alec's teasing, absolutely loving the crimson color her brother's face had turned.

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Galway, Ireland

"You're a hard man to find." Came a primal growl from behind his right ear.

Slowly turning around Sterling came nearly nose to nose with one Eliot Spencer.

Thankfully he was outdoors though and had options of escape, he had heard of this man and was not very inclined to see if the stories were true.

Turning to run he was met with a tall black man's fist connecting with his face, "Not so fast Sterling, I've got some dental work with your name on it."

Anybody wanna do my job? Huh? I get punched and kicked. (Eliot Spencer - LEVERAGE)