Ch. 9 Turquoise

Savannah stayed at Van House for a few days. In fact, Savannah stayed at Van House for several days. She had apparently been in contact with Parker who assured Elot she was safe. Unsurprisingly, it didn't help. He wanted to talk to her, resolve everything. Even with Savannah absent from the office, tensions still ran high. Hardison was nigh murderous with frustration that he wasn't finding any possible locations for Strife. Parker was annoyed with Eliot's subtle but constant pestering about Savannah. Hardison and Parker while still together and relatively steady, there were still some kinks.

At first, it was almost relaxed him at first, to have some time away from Savannah after talking to Nate. Time would help, time apart. She wasn't blowing him off; she was working things through.

It stopped being relaxing, though. After a few days, it began to...scare him. Was she blowing him off now? She stormed out on him like he was the one who kissed someone else while they were...connecting. So...nothing was official. But everyone saw it. Everyone knew they were...pre-dating. Eliot decided to do exactly what he should've done. He would take initiative, go down to Van House, take Savannah out and...talk. When did talking become a priority? Oh...right.

It was early afternoon when Eliot knocked on the door of Van House. His nerves vaguely resembled those that he had picking up Aimee for their first date. He massaged his forehead, trying to rub the image away. Aimee couldn't occupy a sliver of his mind right now.

A tiny blonde who looked about 17 or 18 opened the door. "Yes?"

"I'm uh, looking for Savannah. Savannah Pierce? Uh, Van?"

The girl's eyes narrowed momentarily. "The admins went on a retreat in the city. She was with them."

Eliot bit his lip in irritation. "Okay, thanks."

"Can I take a message, Mr. Spencer?"

"How did you-No. Thank you."

Well, that didn't help. At all. And then Eliot got an idea. A horrible idea that he hated himself for, but an idea. It was a quarter to one that night when Eliot snuck downstairs and tip-toed over to Hardison's desk. Now he definitely couldn't hack, but he picked up a few things. He moved the mouse and the screens glowed to life. He looked around and clicked until...there it was: map of Portland with four glowing dots. Three of them flashed at the address of headquarters, and the fourth was a few blocks away in the more active part of the city.

Eliot typed the address into Google. It was a nightclub. First Parker and now she runs off in the middle of a job to go gallivanting at a nightclub? Okay, the job was at a standstill until Hardison got locations, but...Eliot grabbed his truck keys and marched out the door.

The club was a relatively new joint with one of the dance floors on a patio. Eliot pulled up and parked the truck next to that particular feature and scanned the crowd. Beyond her movements, which he knew well from sparring for the last several months, Savannah was unrecognizable. Pastel blue shorts that just covered the essentials and a white halter top that was just as skimpy dressed her swaying body underneath the flashing lights.

The scene unfolded before him like he was watching instead of participating. He flung himself out of the truck, slammed the door, darted into the crowd, snatched Savannah up by the arm and dragged her to the curb.

"What the hell are you doing?!" He growled.

"I could ask you the same question!" She snapped.

He ignored her and started raving. "You're out here in your freaking underwear, not paying a bit of attention, I can smell the booze on you. You're a freaking neon target. Do you know how dangerous this is?"

She crossed her arms and glared. "You're seriously about to lecture me about dangerous?"

He went off on another tangent as he noticed the front quarter of her hair was turquoise. "And what the hell is this? How are you supposed to work like that? You're supposed to blend."

She rolled her eyes. "It washes out, grandpa."

"You haven't been to the office in over a week. We're in the middle of a case. You can't just disappear like this."

"I've been checking in with Parker. We can't even move forward on the case until Hardison gets a location. I am spending time with friends I haven't seen in years. What is your problem, really?"

"We need to talk about what happened with you and Parker...and you and Dani..." Eliot finally admitted the real issue.

"And you and Aimee?" She pressed cautiously.

He exhaled sharply. "Yes. Let's go."

She looked sympathetic for a moment then shook her head. "No. I'm going to continue being with friends I don't work with all the time. Hardison will call me when he has something and we can move forward."

"Why didn't I know you had a cell phone until Dani called?" The negative answer sent Eliot back into his jealous spiral.

"You don't pay attention," she said dryly.

"Very funny. We share a room. You'd have to work pretty hard to hide something like that from me. Why?"

"I hide a lot from you," she evaded.

"That's becoming becoming pretty damn clear!"

"Don't you raise your voice at me like that!"

"Get in the damn truck, Savannah!"

"Fuck off before I lay you out in the middle of the street."

"Try it!"

He took her arm again, and to his surprise, she leaned into him and breathed into his ear, "Think about how this looks to the crowd, Spencer."

"You wouldn't."

"No." She planted her foot on his thigh. Her voice raised to a yell as she kicked him against the wheel well of his own truck. "I'll come back when I damn well please!"

The crowd murmured, and to disperse the scene, Eliot relented and got in the truck. As he started the truck, he heard Savannah call out to him. He rolled down the window, hopeful she'd had a change of heart. Her face didn't reflect one, however. "How did you find me?"

And with that, Eliot stepped on the gas.